Seeing the plain truth of this verse, one could notice that this fruit consists of nine ingredients necessary to maintain the unity of this fruit. Thus, logic dictates that if you lose one, you lose them all. That’s why, it is imperative to maintain a constant connection to the source of this fruit, i.e., the Holy Spirit. In doing so, we may avoid the same situation which happened in the States: A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital. Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy,I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide.
Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or you wish to take revenge. Think first before you lose your patience with someone you love. Trucks can be repaired. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. When we begin to harbor grievances, we need to learn not to take God’s right to defend us because Paul emphatically stated in Rom 12:19-21”Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (NIV)
People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever. If there is one person who will be justified to take action was Jesus Christ. He was crucified for our sins that He did not owe yet He suffered that He was likened to a lamb led to the slaughterhouse but uttered the most sobering statement of all that drove to the heart of His persecutor, “Father forgive them for they do not what they do.” Thus, to consider oneself as a Christian is to imbibe the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ; without which will be considered only as an empty rhetoric. Stephen, the first martyr uttered the same words of Jesus while he was being stoned to death by his enemies. And this was a man wholly submitted to the attitude of Jesus and exemplified what Jesus taught by His actions not just by His words.
Let us be reminded that patience can only be exemplified in the toughest and hardest situations of our life. One can only prove that you have patience at work is when you are faced with situations that will prove its existence. The Apostle James provided an important truth to remember on how to apply patience as stated in James 1:19-20, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (NIV)I believe that when we heed God’s word in all that I’ve shared here, any stress due to impatience will be relieved immediately. C’mon, give it a shot!
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