The fruit of the Spirit is peace and patience. Let’s break these two down. World peace is a popular thought. You can even join the Peace Corps! The challenge for the Christian is that there will always be war. Our God promises that until the Last Day there will be wars and rumors of wars. Yet there is this Messianic theme in the Bible. There will be peace. God is the one who will accomplish that peace! Our early Bible study on Sunday mornings is talking about that. We’re looking at the names of God in the book of Revelation.
The problem is that if I talk about peace to someone who is not a Christian (and even some who are) is that often we’re talking past each other. Most people think about a cessation of war. That’s not bad. My son is in the Marines. I don’t want him to go anywhere if there is a possible situation where he could see combat. I’m proud of him, but I am praying for peace – physical peace. The peace that our God is talking about is a spiritual peace. There is very real peace between God and man because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Sins are paid for! This was the songs of angels at Christmas. This is what the prophet Isaiah was talking about when swords would be beaten into plows!
So what about patience? This isn’t talking about you enduring a line as you check out of the grocery store. This isn’t talking about you sitting in rush hour traffic. This is talking about God not ending the world immediately because of all the wickedness and sin. The Christian cries out – “How long!” God is patient with all of us, not wanting anyone to perish. Please don’t mistake God’s patience for cluelessness. He knows exactly what is going on. When the last person who needs to hear the gospel of truth finally does, he will end the world.
The fruit of the Spirit is peace and patience. Watch this week’s lesson from our series Fruits of the Spirit.