There is a patience crisis in our society today! We live in a world of instant gratification. People are on the go and they want to do everything instantly: fast food, instant technology, instant messaging, quick dating and marriage (online dating sites), and much more. As a society, we have developed the mentality of “how can I live my life easier, faster, and better?” Once patience was a virtue now it’s becoming as rare as handwritten letters.

Why is patience and delayed gratification important to our success in daily living at home, school, work, and in our walk with God? That special group of people who are saved among the 144,000 will have the character quality of patience. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Notice the main characteristics that Christ is looking for in His children who will inherit His kingdom: patience, and obedience to His commandments. “We are on a battle ground, and Satan is striving for our souls. No impatient man or woman will ever enter the courts of heaven.”—Review and Herald, February 21, 1888.

According to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, patience is “the act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontent.” David describes how he exercised patience: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1).  Notice that David “waited patiently.” As I meditated on this verse I researched it in the original Hebrew Interlinear Bible. What I found was astonishing! Qaw-woh, the original word, means “patiently waited.” Qaw-woh means to be hopeful and expecting as if expecting for a vine to produce grapes. So, when David states “I waited patiently for the Lord” he is saying “I waited with a positive and hopeful expectation for the Lord.”  

Did you know that one of the fundamental principles of love is patience? In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul presents multiple scenarios of patience as being a natural expression of genuine love.  In verse 7 he states, “Charity [love] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” All of these aspects of love are also the key characteristics of patience.

Have you ever planted something and waited for it to grow? It seemed like an eternity. When I was growing up, I decided to plant potatoes in our family garden. I announced to my mom that soon we would have a plentiful potato harvest. Yet for some reason, I thought we would have potatoes the next week. I grabbed my potato, stormed out of the house and planted it.   

The very next morning, I ran out and dug up the potato to see if I had at least one additional potato. To my surprise the potato was beginning to rot. I was so disappointed and quickly covered it up and went to find a gardening book on how to grow potatoes. I was glad to find that the potato was supposed to rot so that new potatoes could emerge, but I was also disappointed that it would take more than a couple of weeks before I could eat potatoes. For the next few weeks, I woke up early and dug out the potato to see the progress. Finally, after 2 months, I gave up digging up that potato and decided to wait for the potato to grow when it was ready. Days passed and then one morning, I woke up and remembered the potato. I ran to the garden to check on it. To my surprise, that one potato had turned into a dozen little but fully matured potatoes!

Since we live in a society that promotes instant gratification, often, we as Christians may also want things to happen instantly. But this is not how God works. In explaining the nature of His kingdom, Jesus said, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:26, 27). Here we learn the lesson God wants to teach us, we are not in control of our lives, He is. Just as in planting a seed we must wait for it to grow, so we must wait for God to put us through trials so He can produce the miracle of growth in us.

We have learned that only those Christians who have the “patience of the saints” (Revelation 14:12) will keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. But are there other benefits to being patient that I can get right now on this earth? The Bible says, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30, 31).

“Trust in the Lord Jesus to lead you step by step into the right path. . . . You can ‘run and not be weary”; you can ‘walk and not faint,’ for you can realize by faith that you have your hand in the hand of Christ.”—Upward Look, p. 320.

Here are some other benefits of being patient:

1 Patient people have better mental health.

According to a study conducted by Dr. Sarah Schnitker of Fuller Seminary and Dr. Robert Emmons of University of California, Davis, people who are patient tend to experience less depression and negative emotions.1

2 Patient people are more likely to achieve their goals.

Patient people report exerting more effort toward their goals than impatient people and they were more satisfied when they achieved them.2

3 Patient people tend to be more cooperative, more empathic, more forgiving.3

4 Patient people have good overall health.

Patient people were less likely to report health problems—headaches, acne flair-ups, ulcers, diarrhea, and pneumonia, according to the study done by Schnitker and Simmons in 2007.1

Can patience be improved? In her 2012, study, Dr. Schnitker invited 71 students to participate in “patience training.” This involved learning to identify their feelings and triggers, learning to regulate their emotions and to empathize with others. After two weeks of training, the students reported being more patient toward difficult people, feeling less depressed and having higher levels of positive emotions.2

1 By thanking God for my trials.

Every trial is an opportunity to improve our patience, and if we accept it as such, in the end, it will give us joy!

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2–4).

2 By running the Christian race daily.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

3 By waiting for the second coming of Jesus.

“Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:8).

4 By being patient with all people.

“Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

We have daily opportunities to be patient with people we meet. It may be with a slow bank teller, the rude gas station attendant, or the person who is telling you the most boring story you ever heard.

5 By looking to Jesus our example.

Jesus is our Coach! He is our Motivator! He is our example!

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:2, 3).

Will you begin your Patience Improvement Program today with Jesus Christ as your Coach? If you submit to His mentorship, your success is guaranteed!