Is impatience actually a sin, and what is the secret to learning patience?
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
Q: Patience is something that I struggle with and I find that others around me are much the same. Is impatience actually a sin, and what is the secret to learning patience? -- P.V.
A: This is a high-strung, neurotic, impatient age. We hurry when there is no reason to hurry, just to be hurrying. This fast-paced age energizes hyper personalities and creates jangled nerves that affect relationships.
Thomas à Kempis said, "All men commend patience, although few be willing to practice it." John F. Newton wrote, "Be patient enough to live one day at a time as Jesus taught us, letting yesterday go, and leaving tomorrow till it arrives."
Impatience has produced a new crop of broken homes and a million or more new ulcers and set the stage for culture wars. In no area of our lives has it been more damaging than on the domestic scene.
There was a woman, a professing Christian, who, though good in many respects, was very impatient. Her pastor one day spoke to her husband about his soul, and the man replied, "My wife is a good woman, but if religion would make me as impatient as she is, I want no part of it." The minister had a frank talk with the woman, and in tears and humility she confessed that her sin was the sin of impatience. She began to pray that the Lord would help her. She took to heart that exhibiting patience with her husband, and before her husband, would be a way to testify that God is in the business of transforming people.
The Bible says, "Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be... complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4).
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
(c)2020 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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