Walking with the Wise #463: Just A Little Patience

"A ruler can be persuaded through patience,


and a gentle tongue can break a bone.”
—Proverbs 25:15 (HCSB)

Patience and gentleness are two words that are largely marginalized in our modern vernacular. Neither is considered to be a virtuous trait in a society that is accustomed to instantaneous results. Patience is traded away in favor of expeditiousness, and gentleness is traded for power and strength.

The dictionary defines patience as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” If we are to persuade someone to our way of thinking, it is going to take time. Knowing this, the question must be, what do I do while I’m waiting? We cannot elicit a change of heart in anyone, especially of the spiritual nature—that’s God’s job. Our responsibilities are to lovingly and patiently present the truths of the Gospel through our words and deeds. While we do try and reason with them, persuading them through patient dialogue that the claims of Christianity are true, we know that not everyone will respond positively or in the timing we would like. Therefore, we must be patient.

We are also gentle, one of the most misunderstood virtues. Gentleness is power under control and employs tact whenever called upon. As we patiently wait for God’s seed to take root in the hearts of men, we will encounter all kinds of opposition—reservations, objections, frustrations, and the various arrows of sin that fill the quivers of men. But for us to find success, to persuade someone as God allows, will mean employing every arrow of divine influence in our quiver of sanctification—and that will take time.

God desires that we patiently and gently speak His truth into the hearts of men and women, confronting and challenging them with the core truths of the Gospel. And then wait upon Him as the seed seeks fertile soil in their hearts. Let God do what He does as we fulfill the task He has called us to do—and then be ready to receive the harvest He prepares through us. Amen.