Leadership 101 – Part 10 – Patience
“If any are inclined to despond, because they do not have patience, let them be of good courage. It is in the course of our feeble and very imperfect waiting that God Himself, by His hidden power, strengthens us and works out in us the patience of the saints, the patience of Christ Himself.” –Andrew Murray
If you were to ask my wife to list my strengths, I can assure you that patience probably would not make her Top 5. Sure, I get it right some of the time… with our 16-month-old daughter, even when she lets out a blood-curdling scream at J. Alexander’s for no apparent reason other than she wants to hear her voice (at least that’s the best explanation I can come up with); or, on the golf course, after I follow up a stinking triple bogey with a double, because I just know that my next shot is going to be the best one of the round; or, when someone or some experience really messes up my plans or my day, because that particular individual or that set of circumstances don’t really mean all that much to me… in a Christian kind of way, of course. 
It’s VERY easy for me to be patient in situations like these.
But if you want to see the “impatientometer” really spin, just watch when my expectations aren’t met, or when things aren’t done the way I think they ought to be done, or when someone asks something of me that I don’t really want to do. CAN ANYONE RELATE?
The Bible says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23) One translation says that the Holy Spirit actually “produces” these things in our lives. Or, as Andrew Murray once wrote, God Himself, by His hidden power, strengthens us and works out in us the patience of the saints, the patience of Christ Himself.
So, as the leader of your home, business, small group, office, softball team, or church (from a guy who struggles with impatience!) may the Lord work in us this very hour the patience of Jesus Christ so that we might honor Him and be a blessing to others. May we walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called… with patience. (Eph. 4:2)
Amen and Amen.
