Being patient is counter-cultural: many feel “the need for speed” on the internet highway. Former British Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher once said, “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
But the word translated into English as “patience” has the sense of being “longsuffering” in the original Greek. This is the same Greek word that translates the Hebrew term in a self-description of God is used in Ex. 34:6: Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger [= patient/longsuffering] and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
Patience is not a sign of weakness but of strength to actively make positive progress in the most trying social or interpersonal circumstances; patience is to be manifested and sustained in our relationship with God, others, and self.
