This is the sermon preview of sermon four of nine in the preaching series Elect Spiritual Fruit. To watch a recording of this message, visit FBCM’s livestream page.
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.,” – from Psalm 103:6-14 (NIV)
Are you the tortoise or the hare?
In this classic Aesop fable, a tortoise and a hare embark on a race. You likely remember reading this tale in elementary school. The hare is obviously faster than the tortoise. The tortoise doesn’t even refute this fact, so the idea of a race is absurdly comical. Yet–spoiler alert–the tortoise wins the race!
What’s fascinating about this story is not necessarily who wins, though that is a surprise for a room of first graders. But the real point of the story is how: slow and steady wins the race.
The image of the slow and steady tortoise is the essence of what patience looks like to me. Admittedly, my natural disposition is much closer to the hare. I like to zoom, zoom, zoom from here to there. If a project takes too long, there’s a high chance I’ll “take a break” and never finish it. There’s a stack of close to 10 books on my nightstand with bookmarks ⅔ ways through because I couldn’t make it to the end fast enough. The patience isn’t there–not with myself, and at times, not with others either.
But slow and steady wins the race.
Psalm 103 is a song of David where he worships God for his patience. This holy and righteous God would be justified in growing tired with us wishy-washy humans. This omnipotent God could easily grow bored with helpless Israel, leaving them to their own despairing devices.
But slow and steady wins the race. As it turns out, God shows the picture of perfect patience way before Aesop’s tortoise. God models a patience that is slow to anger, and abundant in love. In God’s patience, he meets ignorance with revelation; sin with gracious forgiveness; and helplessness with compassion.
Sanctification in the Christian life is no doubt a direct result of receiving patience from a loving God. And at the same time, as the Holy Spirit cultivates the fruit of patience in our own life, He will use it to transform the world around us.
It’s slow and steady work. But as Paul wrote to us in the New Testament, we know that God has already won the race. We need only to persevere patiently to the end.
Reflection Questions
Who is someone that you think reflects the fruit of patience?
How does knowing God models perfect patience help you trust God?
Are you more naturally like the tortoise or the hare? How do you think that natural disposition affects how you live out God’s patience in your life?
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