Patience. Kindness. Goodness

IN THE FALL OF 1997...

In the fall of 1997 I was a member of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church and sat under the teaching and preaching of a great pastor by the name of Rev. Ferd Elfreich. He was leading us, as a faith family, through a series of sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit. It was during a sermon on patience that the Lord really began to press in on this issue in my own life because I was not, and some would say that I am still not, a very patient person. I remember as if it was yesterday the words that came from my pastor’s mouth. He said, “Patience is one of the hardest godly virtues to grow in because we are inherently prideful and self-centered people. Therefore, if you are here today and Jesus is dealing with you on this matter, the response that you need to have is to simply ask Jesus to develop patience in your life.” I loved my pastor and knew that he would not lead me in the wrong way so that day I went to the altar during the response time and asked Jesus to make me a more patient person for my own good and His ultimate glory.”

That was the MOST DANGEROUS PRAYER I had ever prayed up until that point in my journey of faith because the Lord began to answer my prayer in a way that I had never thought of. I guess I had assumed that Jesus would just sprinkle some heavenly glitter dust over me at night and suddenly one day I would wake up and be a more patient person. I learned real quick, however, that was not the way He intended to develop patience in me. It wasn’t long after I asked Jesus to make me a more patient person that I was unexpectedly promoted at my job. I was thrust into a position and suddenly I had 20 people that directly reported to me and let’s just say that not all 20 of those people were easy to work with. Over the span of about 2 years I found myself in some situations and relationships with employees that required patience of me if I wanted to keep my sanity and my job. I openly admit that this was a season of great struggle for me because my weakness was being exposed and I didn’t know how to deal with all the inner turmoil that was brewing as a result of my natural inclination towards not being patient with others and the desire to keep my job which meant that I had to have patience with others.

OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS

I remember being at the church one day doing some work in the room where I taught 6th Grade Sunday School and so torn up on the inside that I just had to go and talk to my pastor. I shared with Him how I had prayed that Jesus would make me a more patient person as a result of his preaching ministry to me. I shared with him how I was struggling becoming a more patient person because of this new promotion and the frustrating employees that reported to me. He sat back and began to smile as I shared with him some of the struggles I was facing with some problem employees. I found his smile to be a little frustrating because I felt as if he was belittling. After allowing me to vent for a few minutes, he looked at me and said that the he believed that this unexpected promotion I had received at work did not just happen by chance or by luck but was God answering my prayer because in order to grow in patience I had to be in situations and have relationships that called for more patience from me. When he said it that way it all really made sense but then I began to second guess myself as to whether I should have asked Jesus to do this or not because this was a hard season for me.

After he made that statement I began to see Jesus a little more in my situation but the struggle to demonstrate patience with some of the employees that reported to me seemed to be just too much. I shared with my pastor that it seemed as if everyday at work was one step forward and two steps back. I would show patience with one employee that was late coming back from his break and then totally blow up at another employee that was not learning as quick as I thought they should. It was just this vicious frustrating season of despair for me as a follower of Christ.

As I began to gather myself and leave my pastor’s office and he suggested that I take some time digging into the Scriptures and seeing what the Bible had to say about how God is patient towards us and maybe, just maybe, by seeing how patient God has been with me I may find strength to grow in my patience with others. Needless to say, while I am far from perfect, I am a much more patient person today than I was 20 years ago and the catalyst for my growth in this area was understanding how God has demonstrated patience toward me.

I share my experience with you by way of introduction to the fruit of the Spirit that is patience, kindness and goodness. We spent three weeks talking about the first three virtues that the Holy Spirit creates in us especially in the sense of how love, joy and peace deal primarily with our relationship with God and then overflows in our relationships with others.

PATIENCE. KINDNESS. GOODNESS. (RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS)

The next three virtues that we are going to find in our passage deal primarily with our relationship with other people in our lives. The first three deal primarily with our relationship with God and as we grow in our love for, joy in and peace with God then love for, joy among and peace with others will be the overflow of our love for, joy in and peace with God. As we begin to understand this connection between how our relationship with God impacts how we relate with others I want to take a little different approach to this message than maybe you expected.

I want to do for you what my pastor in Henderson did for me. I am not going to tell you that you need to just try harder to be patient with, kind and good towards others because the Bible says to be patient with, kind and good towards others. I want us to take a journey