Work with patience

Sunday September 25, 2022

Work with patience

So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord returns. Look at the cultivator : he waits for the precious fruit of the earth, showing patience with it until he has received the first and the last rains. You too, be patient, strengthen your heart, for the return of the Lord is near. James 5:7,8

The Christian knows that time is an instrument in the hands of God, but he always needs a certain number of experiences to truly learn that this is so.

Many examples from the Bible teach us that God, when he accomplishes his plans, does so at his own pace. Men, on the other hand, are always looking for shortcuts, because they know that their time is short and that “time is money”. But the faithful believer does not seek immediate profit : he works for eternity, that eternity which has already begun for him, but which, in a sense, begins at the next coming of the Lord.

Didn't Noah need patience to work 120 years building a boat ? to Abraham to wander homeless all his life ? to Moses to tend sheep for forty years in a desert, while his Israelite brothers suffered from their slavery in Egypt ?

God uses time to do his work in us. James gives, a few verses later, the example of Job who patiently endured the long and painful trial during which he learned to really know God. What encouragement for all those who are also going through the ordeal !

May this image of the plowman, who struggles to prepare his field and who often has to wait almost a year to harvest, encourage those whom the Lord employs : evangelists, doctors or pastors, and every believer who takes his role of witness to heart ! They don't always see the fruits of their labor. They will be highlighted by the Lord himself at his appearance.

Let us therefore strengthen our affections for the Lord : he is coming soon ! No more patience then, no more suffering ! It will be the harvest for the glory of the Master, his joy and that of the redeemed !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)