Dear West Family

Just a very brief thought today as I am in a bit of a hurry, the deep irony of which will be revealed in just a couple of moments.

I am something of a nerd at times and so I like to lose myself in books that the vast majority of the population would find altogether uninteresting. Recently I have been reading a work by Alan Kreider which is brilliantly titled, “The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire.” It was recommended to me by a good friend and fellow nerd, and as you may have guessed from the title, it not only speaks of patience as a virtue but also requires that same virtue to be applied in order for the work itself to be endured. 

I have loved it. Total nerd stuff.

The fundamental premise is that the early church were peculiarly patient people. In an empire based on drive, immediacy, and constant expansion, a little band of outsiders quite simply outlasted their opposition. They imitated the patience of their Lord (2 Pet 3:9) who works in timelines across millenia to accomplish His purposes, and they simply stayed the course of faith in an extremely impatient world. 

It got me thinking. In an impatient world, are we peculiarly patient, or have we absorbed all of the thinking of our hustle culture with its demands of efficiency, immediacy and measurable results? I was reading Hebrews the other morning and was struck afresh by Hebrews 6:11-12 which says, “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Faith and patience.

You see, patience isn’t a passive defeat. It isn’t a throwing up of our hands in acceptance of things that are not as they should be. Rather, patience is faith at work in the waiting. Patience is refusing to relent on a hope that endures. It’s not sluggish - as the writer to the Hebrews says - but it is holding on to hope when everyone else has let go.

So friends, are you being patient? 

Patient with those around you who God has entrusted with your love and fellowship?
Patient with yourself, as God continues to transform and sanctify you?
Patient with God’s people as He continues to tell His story through us across millenia?
Patient with what seems like God’s delay, as He doesn’t change things and circumstances in the way that we would like or as quickly as we would like Him to?

Faith and patience. 

I long to imitate those who came before me who made it to the end. I am going to need to be patient.

The song this week has no Christian influence I am afraid, but I love it. This is Chris Cornell, who had one of the greatest voices in rock history, and who tragically ran out of patience with himself, singing an old Guns N’ Roses classic. Enjoy.

Chris Cornell - Patience (Official Video)

See you Sunday,
Ross