Stripping A Gear

You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

James 5:8

Someone quipped that patience can be defined as idling your motor when you feel like stripping a gear. It’s hard to be patient in an instant-gratification world. We like fast food and fast-paced fun. We want high-speed Internet and the ability to instantly manage our accounts. We want money from ATMs at a moment’s notice, expedited resolutions to problems, entertainment on demand, express lanes on our freeways, and quick replies to our questions.

Those of us who know the Lord Jesus are standing on tiptoe, waiting every moment for the trumpet call. Each morning we watch the sun rising through the clouds, wondering if Jesus might come today and remembering His words in Revelation 22: “Surely I am coming quickly” (verse 20). But we must wait patiently, and we must work faithfully as we wait. In James 5, the Lord tells us to learn a lesson from farmers who wait for the rain and for the harvest (verse 7). Let’s mix our anticipation with patience, our expectation with labor, and our hope with endurance. Let’s work till Jesus comes, when we’ll be carried home.

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

HELEN KELLER