Let Patience Have its Perfect Work

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” — James 1:4

How do you measure up in the face of patience? Can you think of a personal situation where having patience changed the outcome?

Patience is not an attribute that is very common among entrepreneurs. The widespread thinking in the business world is that time is money and we only have 24 hours a day. So, we have to hurry up and trade all the time we have for money before our time runs out. After all, the Bible teaches us to redeem the time. This mindset influences many biblical entrepreneurs to enter the rat race. I find myself guilty of this when I lose sight of my spiritual and family priorities because of the deadlines and goals I think I have to meet, just to find myself never catching up and losing my internal balance.

Patience is a virtue. It is a fruit of the Spirit, and the lack of it demonstrates a lack of spiritual maturity. Impatient people are accidents waiting to happen. Impatient people put themselves above the laws of God and man. Impatient people cheat, get speeding tickets, jump in line, lie on their taxes, curse at their children, and the list goes on. Impatient people eventually lack integrity because they focus more on the outcome than the process. Impatient people take matters into their own hands versus waiting on God. Without patience, you will never fulfill God’s plan for your life. Patience is the oven that God puts his children in so they may cook at the right temperature and be fully mature. Impatience is the microwave of the enemy, the devil, designed to take everything of value out of your life and take quality out of your productivity. Impatience destroys marriages, friendships, businesses, and can even destroy your life.

Patience is doing what you can while waiting on God to do what only He can. Patience is God’s plan to give you everything that you desire within His season, which is in line with His plan for your life. Patience is produced through trials. We need patience to have character, and without character we have no hope. Hope is essential to realizing our business and personal goals and objectives.

Allowing patience to be complete in us allows us to be complete on the inside and out, lacking nothing. God wants us to be whole. He wants us to completely depend on Him and Him only. He wants us to have life and have it abundantly. The only way for Him to help us achieve complete internal wholeness and walk in the abundant life is to allow us to persevere. Continue to be patient because God is taking you somewhere and the greater the suffering, the greater the reward; the greater the sacrifice, the greater the fruit.

My prayer for you today is that the Holy Spirit would give you patience in all of your circumstances, completing God’s work in you.