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Written by Dr. Christopher Beckham
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
Hebrews 10:36 says, “Ye have need of patience.” Patience is one of those good, sturdy Christian virtues that we do not hear enough about these days. It is a distinctly Christian virtue. Cultivating the growth of patience in one’s life is important, for when we are impatient we expose ourselves to be selfish and self-centered. We act as though we are the center of everybody else’s universe when we are impatient. However, being patient chips away at being selfish and over-demanding with others.
Who have you known that was really patient? My mother’s father was the most patient man. What made him that way? I think it was his Christianity.
Before he died, James Perkins was completely crippled by arthritis. He had it most of his life. When he was younger, it slowed him down, but it didn’t stop him. After he retired, he became a master gardener, and an accomplished wood worker. Things just took him longer than most of the rest of us. Enforced patience was the reality he lived with every day.
I believe that the patience he had with his own gnarled hands and slower pace must have spilled over into his entire way of looking at life. But I don’t think it was just his physical condition that made Jimmy Perkins patient. No, it was his walk with Jesus Christ that did. What God did for him was what made the difference.
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