“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”James 5:7-8
We are living in a fast moving world and we always compete with each other and whoever is the fastest wins the race. Today, innovation is evolved around speed:- Our airplane, train and car are faster compared with the past and fast-food restaurants are mushrooming because people are rushing.
We definitely save time if we work fast and we are less tired if we travel by plane than by car. If time is the essence, it will be very productive because we achieve the expected result. On the other hand, from a life development perspective, doing things fast may not always be good. If we are on a fast lane but that happens to be the wrong lane, it can bring us grave consequences.
It can be a painful experience for someone if we asked them to wait and be patient. When we were children, we probably would have been counting the days when we could finish school, becoming adults and starting to earn money. However, there are stages that we need to go through if we are to develop properly as a person. These stages or phases of lifetime development are natural progression if we are to become strong mentally and physically.
Nowadays people prefer shortcut. As a result, a lot of things out there are fake, ostentatious and pretentious; what you see is not really what it is in terms of relationship building. It takes time to build one which is sustainable based on mutual trust and understanding, and getting to know each other well. In perspective, developing true friendship is a long term process. We also need to be patient if we are to aim for personal development. To improve ourselves mentally and spiritually, we need to learn from others and from our own experiences, knowing what our mistakes are and be prepared to make amends.
In doing God’s work, success is not measured by what we see but is about how much we allow God to work in and through us. Success is not only about quantity of work but about how we conduct ourselves as worthy Christians with quality Christian living.
Be patient and persevere! Do not give up but be firm on building sustainable success. By doing so, God will provide us with the rightful reward.