Let Patience Have Her Perfect Work

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4 KJV
The above scripture is one that came to me often in the early days of my conversion (of course everything I grew up on came from the KJV of the Bible). Maybe if I had another version it would have become clearer to me earlier, I don’t know, but one thing I know that term “patience” was one that made me lose “patience.”

Never being one that liked to wait on anyone or anything, if there was a way to figure out how to get it done, I was going to do that. Never being shy of using my brains or my brawn, whichever suited the case – I was going to go after my problem. To this day, I suffer in my right knee because I used it so many times to move things – like refrigerators, file cabinets, and other heavy furniture I had no business moving! I would carry heavy bags, move furniture, climb ladders, nothing was out of reach, even though I was never really very good at fixing things I would still try, mainly because I could not wait on (women, you know who)!

Well, fixing and moving were not the only things that tried my patience, also things like my children not being able to get their homework right, people who didn’t keep their word, not being able to pay my bills on time, people who said they were Christians and didn’t act like one. Needless to say I was straining at the bit most of the time! One day I was at my father-in-laws and my husband had done something that really got the best of me and I went off-f-f-! My father-in-law heard me and not one to hold his peace, he asked me what was wrong with me. I quickly told him that it was that time of the month – justifying me lack of patience for the situation at hand. He asked me if I believed Jesus could do anything – I answered him like a good Christian and said, “of course.” Well he answered, “Jesus can take care of your time of the month.”

That was probably the beginning of what became a new way of looking at my short temper, my lack of patience, my “going off.” If I wanted to be the good Christian, that I felt others should be, then I had to begin to believe that it was possible to change your temperament, and I began that day to do so. It was not an easy road, but for many years I began to improve and developed a greater degree of patience than I ever had – and it continued until I was around forty – and then the real testing began. I wish I could say that I had gotten delivered in my twenties and thirties and never had that area tested again, but the truth is – much of what I assumed was growth, was not dealing with the problem at hand. I would dismiss it with the good Christian fruit of suffering – and push it deeper down into my being. Over the years, resentment and bitterness began to build up – and it wasn’t long before I was angry – angry over the injustices I had endured for many years.

Time will not permit me to tell the whole story – but let it suffice to say – that I wish I had talked to someone about how to handle the problems I was facing and not feeling as if I had to handle them all myself. Part of not seeking counsel was because I was a leader in the church of my in-laws – and seeking out family didn’t seem to be the way. The other reason was pure and simple – pride – I thought I could handle things myself – that my prayer life and my faith was enough.

I am sharing this with you because there are many in the church, just like me, trying to handle problems that are too big for them to fix and feeling as if the problem lies totally with them – if this is you – or if you know someone who falls in this category – urge them to seek the face of God for someone who can provide them with godly counsel. There are people today in the body of Christ who are equipping themselves to look into the make-up of man through the eyes of the scripture – that we might be healthy inside and out. Because of the seriousness of this topic, I am going to continue it on tomorrow, until then, meditate on our theme scripture, said another way…

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4 (MSG)