TOPIC: THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE IN THE CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE
Bible Reading: Ezekiel 29-31: James 5
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and later rain. Be ye also patient; stablished your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:7-8 (KJV)
In the Christian journey patience and endurance are the very time related virtues we must possess for us to inherit heaven by being ready and acceptable at the appearing of Christ. The bible continued to enjoin us of the need of patience. The absentce of the virtue of patience has plunged a lot of very vibrant Christians to despair and consequently backslidden. A lot of trash and mockery are placed on our very narrow route to heaven, we must therefore apply the virtues of patience and endurance to survive through this terrain.
There are many slippery objects placed on our way as pilgrims coupled with our only route being tempestuous and very stormy. However, we have our patience built on our knowledge of Jesus Christ who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2). Paul admonishes us on patience in this journey in Hebrews 10:36-37(KJV), “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”
Understanding the longsuffering of God and His dwelling in timeless realm, one begins to clearly see what yet a little while will look like. God is not a captive of time, hence His timing differs from ours and also considering that Christ died for the entire world, who of a necessity must be reached with the gospel of Christ, it becomes paramount that we must develop the God virtue of longsuffering in other to sustain our pilgrimage. In addition to our patience we must invest heavily on endurance for hope and patience are sustained by endurance. What Apostle James meant by established your heart, is to have this knowledge of patience endurance and hope settled in your heart. It is also wise to know that as the days go by seeing that we cannot relive the gone years, months and days it therefore means that as each day passes we draw closer to His coming. In this waiting period the bible teaches that there will be persecution of believers by the world system for their believe. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” Matthew 10:22(KJV).
The importance of the suffering of Christ as the Son of God, who paid the price of our sins through suffering, agony afflictions, mockery and humiliation must be properly imbibed in our believe system to act as cushioning for what the world will throw at us. Not drawing back to perdition or to the world in the face of delay is the believe to the saving of the soul. The whole essence of our repentance from sin and believe in Christ is for the saving of the soul. The certainty of Christ second coming is not in doubt, so all that is required is to patiently live out a life of believe and holiness.
My dear reader ,no man can be holy without the redemption that Christ provided at the cross of Calvary. It is on that cross He shared His blood for the remission of our sin and paid fully the price placed on our redemption. To be able therefore to navigate through in our pilgrimage we must accept Jesus Christ into our life as our Lord and Saviour. This will guarantee the entrance of the Spirit of God to regenerate our spirit or put back the life of God in our spirit. It is at this level as you begin to study the word you begin to be rooted and established in Him which facilitates your patience in waiting for His coming to take us home.
Prayer: Father, grant me the grace for patience and endurance in my Christian journey.
Pastor Joel Ezeugo