Patience
Romans 2:7 KJV
(7) To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Patience is a funny thing. It’s not something that you necessarily just have or don’t have, because it really depends upon the activity for which it is needed. It lives or dies based upon care and passion.
My experience with video games is miniscule compared with that of my children, and especially that of my two sons. The first video game I can remember was the pong game where you would move this little virtual paddle up and down to meet a moving dot or ball. It didn’t take a great deal of skill, but we did find ourselves playing it for what my parents probably thought were long periods of time. I then played the Donky Kong game with the tumbling barrels for a while when I was traveling with my sister and her family, sometimes staying up till all hours of the night trying to get that crazy monkey through the highest level. This pretty much makes up the bulk of my gaming experience, though we did get a game for our oldest son when he was quite young, thinking that we would get to learn it ourselves. Before I could really get any learning time on it, though, Haydn had already taken possession of it, quickly surpassing my best efforts. It was an immediate passion for him and he became quite skillful at a variety of games, playing them for however many hours it took to master the highest levels. Many times I attempted playing, but most of the time it quickly became something for which I had very little patience. I just couldn’t seem to care about it or desire its mastery enough to devote the time needed to learn all the lever motions and game specific commands. Though I enjoy being with my sons, I just do not have the patience for the games- usually just end up falling asleep while watching them play.
So, my sons have this ability (patience) to spend countless hours battling a virtual enemy while I can’t even make it through the first phase. They, on the other hand, have no patience for the thing that has occupied the bulk of my skill acquisition- classical guitar playing. When I first started learning, every lesson or piece my teacher would give me to practice would become an obsession for me. I would practice it carefully, measure by measure until it was mastered and then proceed to something beyond what he had given me. The passion I had for producing music with this beautiful instrument was something for which time and difficulty were only part of the process, something for which I definitely had the patience. I would eventually learn more involved and intricate pieces that would require extended periods of time to memorize, but its required patience really wasn’t an issue for me; it was my passion. I eventually discovered, however, that I could not force my sons to expend the same effort and discipline into the guitar as I did. Their patience was active for the games, not the guitar, while mine was visa versa.
Patience is also a requirement that goes right along with experiencing the life of abundance and blessing that is ours in Christ. There will be a need for continuing in well doing or walking in righteousness, something that for some might be like my gaming patience or my sons’ guitar practicing patience. Where the doing isn’t well, though, and the walk isn’t righteous, there is but a need for patience and the passion that drives and motivates it. It might be possible to inspire this passion through motivational stories and talks of promised blessing, but the real patience enabling passion that will inspire continuance through the hardest game and the most difficult piece is Jesus Himself. Acquired in times of worship of and fellowship with Him this passion and desire to please Him will transform any prolonged well doing into a privileged time in serving Him- an act of worship. For the one who has discovered the adventure and exhilaration of life in Christ, patience is a non-issue, just a part of the honored process.
James 1:2-4 KJV
(2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
(3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
(4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.