Tim Woodcock writes: While we wait for the election results, a word that has
risen to new-found prominence is patience. I am sure that after the fact we could
run a search on transcripts of all the news reporting and commentary from the
last few days and see a massive spike in the use of the word. That led me to
think, what exactly does the good book, have to say about patience?
There’s no shortage of Bible verses to choose from. Using
Bible Gateway to find translations that favored patience over near-synonym “perseverance” and
“steadfastness,” here’s what caught my eye.
Romans 5:3-4 says, ”We also boast in tribulation,
knowing that tribulation produces patience, patience produces character,
and character produces hope.” (Modern English Version). “We boast in
tribulation” is translated as “we glory in suffering” in the NIV.
2 Peter 1:5-9 takes a similar idea of how one virtue builds
upon another. “For this reason make every effort to add virtue to your faith;
and to your virtue, knowledge; and to your knowledge, self-control; and to
your self-control, patient endurance; and to your patient endurance,
godliness; and to your godliness, brotherly kindness; and to your
brotherly kindness, love. For if these things reside in you and abound, they
ensure that you will neither be useless nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. But the one who lacks these things is blind and
shortsighted because he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former
sins.” (Modern English Version)
And perhaps most a propos of the current situation this gem
from Ecclesiastes 7:8. “The end of a
matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”(NIV)
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