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9: Patience · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  In our current series, Fruitful Work, we're asking
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  the question, what kind of fruit am I
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  bearing at work?
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  Because we don't always bear the fruit that
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  we want to, but by God's grace, by
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  the power of the Holy Spirit, we can
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  bear fruit that is good.
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  And we've been working backwards through Paul's list
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  of the parts of the fruit of the
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  Spirit in Galatians chapter 5.
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  Today, we get to patience.
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  I immediately thought of Calvin and Hobbes when
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  I thought about patience because of how much
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  Calvin tries his parents' patience.
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  And if for some reason you've never read
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  Calvin and Hobbes, I want you to pause
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  this podcast and pull out your smartphone or
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  your device and Google Calvin and Hobbes and
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  read a few panels because the art that
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  Bill Watterson gave the world in that comic
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  strip far surpasses anything that could enrich your
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  life that you'll get out of this podcast
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  series.
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  But just in case that's you and you
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  haven't followed my instructions and paused the podcast
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  and gone to experience the glory of Calvin
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  and Hobbes for yourself, let me explain.
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  Calvin is a first grader.
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  He is always getting up to no good.
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  He is creatively innovative in his capacity for
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  troublemaking.
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  And so understandably, his mom and his dad
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  often lose patience with him.
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  So I've got a panel right in front
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  of me here in the first panel.
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  Mom's looking under the bed and she's shouting,
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  Calvin, come out from wherever you're hiding and
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  take your bath.
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  And then the second panel, she's got her
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  hand up against her mouth and she's shouting
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  even louder.
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  Do you hear me, Calvin?
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  I mean now.
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  And the now, you know, all of the
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  text is hand lettered by Bill Watterson.
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  So the now is big, bolded, underlined, exclamation
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  point.
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  It's leaping off the page.
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  You really feel the emotional twinge of impatience
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  that seizing Calvin's mom in this moment, because
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  that's that's how great it gets better.
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  But, you know, Bill Watterson is also one
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  of the most careful in regards to licensing
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  Calvin and Hobbes.
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  I've probably already broken some sort of terrible
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  copyright law just by quoting the first two
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  panels on this podcast.
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  Bill Watterson's lawyers don't come after me.
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  But anyways, just go look it up by
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  an anthology series, money well spent.
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  But the point is it's easy to lose
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  patience with a person who tries our patience.
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  So if the fruit of the spirit includes
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  patience, what kind of patience could it be?
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  What kind of patience do we need?
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  Well, the word that's translated patience here sometimes
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  translated long suffering, someone who's able to suffer
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  for a long time, it can also be
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  translated great heartedness.
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  And those two images kind of both have
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  the same idea of like a length or
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  a greatness.
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  You have a supply of something.
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  You need a supply of something in order
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  to be patient with someone.
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  New Testament scholar FF Bruce, he makes us
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  think of the English word short tempered.
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  He says, OK, think about short tempered.
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  The Greek word for patience is the opposite
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  of that.
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  So if we had an English word that
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  was long tempered, that would be the best
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  translation.
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  Again, this idea that you have length, you
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  have a supply that you can use before
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  you get to the point of having a
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  temper, before you get to the point of
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  being angry with someone.
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  So to understand patience, it can also be
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  helpful to understand anger.
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  When do we get angry with someone else?
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  When do we have a temper with someone
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  else?
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  When are we short tempered?
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  Well, it tends to be again with timing
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  when we're in a rush, when we're eager
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  to be somewhere other than where we are
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  right now.
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  Calvin's mom, she doesn't want to be in
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  Calvin's bedroom hunting for him all over the
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  house.
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  She wants to be giving him a bath
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  in the bathroom.
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  She's got an agenda for the night and
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  Calvin is throwing up a roadblock in her
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  agenda.
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  That's why she's getting angry.
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  This is exactly the same for us.
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  It's when something throws a roadblock in our
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  agenda, when a person is not cooperating with
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  what we want to see happen in a
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  certain situation that we get short tempered, that
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  we get angry.
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  So patience is having an inner disposition that
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  allows you, even when there's a roadblock in
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  your agenda, to continue to suffer, to continue
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  to put up with the other person, to
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  continue to be patient.
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  Another way of thinking about this is that
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  rather than rushing ahead to the place you
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  want to be, patience is all about being
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  present right here, right now.
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  It's a capacity for presence.
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  Catholic writer Henry Nowan speaks to this aspect
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  of patience in his delightful little book, The
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  Path of Waiting.
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  He writes, a waiting person is a patient
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  person.
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  The word patience means the willingness to stay
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  where we are and live the situation out
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  to the full and the belief that something
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  hidden there will manifest itself to us.
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  Patient living means to live actively in the
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  present and wait there.
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  Waiting then is not passive.
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  It involves nurturing the moment as a mother
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  nurtures the child that is growing in her
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  womb.
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  Isn't that a beautiful image?
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  Nurturing the moment like an expectant mother nurtures
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  her child.
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  Believing that something can happen in this moment
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  right where we are.
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  So let's think about what makes that hard?
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  What makes it hard to be present in
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  the moment like that?
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  Well, I thought of three ways that it's
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  hard in the work context.
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  One is probably very familiar.
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  It's waiting for the work day to be
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  over.
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  This literally happened while I was getting ready
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  to record this podcast.
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  I was looking at the clock.
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  I was like, man, you know, I've done
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  a lot of extra work recently.
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  Maybe I should just kick off early for
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  the day.
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  It would be nice if I could just
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  go read my Star Wars novel.
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  But then, you know, the irony hit me.
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  I'm like, I'm literally recording a podcast about
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  patience and work and long suffering and says,
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  okay, okay.
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  You know, I bit the bullet and decided
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  to go ahead and prep and record another
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  podcast episode.
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  But this is true in our experience of
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  work, right?
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  The clock moves slower in the afternoon than
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  in the morning.
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  As we're getting close to the end of
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  the work day, it's so easy to get
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  distracted, to disengage from work, to just be
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  fantasizing about our supper or our evening plans
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  rather than to really stay in it.
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  So that's one way that we need patients
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  at work.
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  Another way is with people.
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  Again, patience is primarily about how we interact
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  with other people.
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  So at work, do you ever have people
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  who try your patience?
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  I sure do.
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  Whether it's a, you know, an insufferable boss
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  or a forgetful coworker or a fussy client.
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  Whatever the case may be, we face people
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  who have flaws, who have foibles, who try
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  our patience at work.
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  So that's another place where we need patients.
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  We need that capacity to be present, not
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  just in the moment, but present to that
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  person in the moment.
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  And the final way we need patients that
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  I thought of is at more of a
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  bigger, zoomed out perspective.
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  Not just patients in a moment, but patients
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  over the long haul, waiting for a career
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  breakthrough.
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  Maybe you're job hunting, you're just waiting for
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  that job offer, or you're waiting for a
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  promotion, waiting for a raise.
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  If you're an entrepreneur, maybe you're waiting for
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  an investor to say yes, or waiting to
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  turn that corner towards profitability.
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  Maybe in a deeper sense, it's not so
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  much about your situation, but the meaning of
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  your work.
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  You're waiting for something that really feels like
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  it's your thing, like it connects with your
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  vocation and calling, like it would bring satisfaction
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  and meaning.
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  And this is bigger, long-term kind of
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  waiting is often the hardest, because it may
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  be tied to a sense of deep disappointment.
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  It can even be tied with our sense
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  of identity when it has to do with
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  calling.
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  It could be really challenging to wait in
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  that moment.
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  So what's the solution?
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  How do we find that fruit of the
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  spirit kind of patience that we need for
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  these situations at work?
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  Well, as usual, it's by turning our heart
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  towards God, towards his character, as it's revealed
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  in Jesus Christ, as it's ministered to us
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  by the power of the Holy Spirit, that
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  we find what we really need.
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  Earlier in this series, we looked at where
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  God talks to Moses in Exodus chapter 34
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  and reveals his name.
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  I want to go back to that verse
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  just real briefly and focus on one specific
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  part of it.
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  So again, this is when God is proclaiming
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  his name to Moses, starting in verse 6.
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  The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious
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  God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
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  faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness,
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  rebellion, and sin.
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  That phrase, slow to anger, is key here.
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  Just like we were looking at needing a
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  supply of something being long tempered, God has
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  a really big supply of whatever that something
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  is.
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  He is slow to anger.
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  He does not get tempered quickly.
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  The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew
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  Scriptures, actually uses the exact same Greek word
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  that Paul uses in Galatians chapter 5 for
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  patience to translate that phrase slow to anger.
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  They say, God is patient, the Lord, the
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  Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, patient, abounding
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  in love and faithfulness.
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  So again, if patience means the capacity to
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  be present in the moment and God has
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  a big supply of whatever it is that
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  you need to have patience, another way of
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  saying the same thing is God has an
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  immense capacity to be present in the present
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  moment, to be present with us in our
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  moments.
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  That's part of how God is patient with
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  us, is he's present with us, even though
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  I'm sure often we try his patience.
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  I want to look at just one biblical
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  story, one Bible story, where someone has this
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  kind of patience of the Lord on their
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  side.
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  And it's somebody who's in that third category,
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  somebody who's waiting for a bigger breakthrough.
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  This is the character of Joseph in the
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  book of Genesis.
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  And his story is very long, we don't
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  have time to get into the whole thing.
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  We'll just look at one little turn in
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  his story when he is falsely imprisoned.
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  What does he do when he's in that
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  prison, when he doesn't know what's going to
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  come next, when he doesn't know if he
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  has hope of ever giving out?
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  Here's what Genesis says, chapter 39 verse 21.
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  But the Lord was with Joseph and showed
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  him steadfast love and gave him favor in
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  the sight of the keeper of the prison.
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  And the keeper of the prison put Joseph
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  in charge of all the prisoners who were
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  in the prison.
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  Whatever was done there, he was the one
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  who did it.
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  The keeper of the prison paid no attention
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  to anything that was in Joseph's charge because
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  the Lord was with him.
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  And whatever he did, the Lord made it
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  succeed.
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  Joseph has been arrested, he's been falsely convicted,
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  he's been thrown in jail, thrown in prison.
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  He doesn't know when he's going to get
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  out, if ever.
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  We know the end of his story.
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  If you've read it, you know, he does
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  get out and some really exciting things happen,
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  but he doesn't know that yet.
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  And what does Joseph decide to do?
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  Well, Joseph looks around and he sees, oh,
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  there are other prisoners here.
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  There's a keeper or a warden here.
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  There are guards here.
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  There are human beings here.
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  How can I help?
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  How can I address the real human needs
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  in this moment where I am?
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  And how is it that Joseph could have
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  that attitude?
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  Because the Lord was with Joseph and showed
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  him steadfast love.
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  The Lord was present in that prison with
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  Joseph.
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  And so what was the solution for Joseph
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  is also the solution for us.
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  When we're waiting for the end of the
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  workday and looking at the clock, it's not
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  just us versus the clock.
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  It's us with the Lord.
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  It's saying, oh Lord, how can I be
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  present to you in these final moments of
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  the workday?
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  God will show you how.
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  When we're trying to be patient with the
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  person in front of us who's trying our
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  patience, it's not just us versus that person.
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  It's, oh, this is a person who bears
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  the image of God.
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  Lord God, how can I love this person
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  with your love in this moment?
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  God will show you how.
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  And then in those bigger moments of waiting
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  for a career breakthrough, waiting for our situation
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  to get better and we don't know if
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  or when or how it will, it's not
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  just us against the world.
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  It's not just us against unemployment.
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  It's not just us against our difficult situation
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  or our dead end job.
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  It's the Lord with us in that situation.
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  And we can say, Lord, show me how
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  to be present to you even in this.
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  And God will show you how.
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  Christian leader Nancy Ortberg in a podcast series
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  that she joined as a guest.
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  This is the podcast, Become New.
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  You can look up this series called Made
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  to Count.
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  It was back in 2022.
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  It's all about work and vocation.
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  That's a great listen.
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  She has this great phrase.
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  She says when she joined the podcast, she
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  says, there are no stepping stone jobs.
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  When you think of your job just as
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  a means to an end, just as a
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  way to get somewhere that you're not currently.
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  It puts you out of the present moment.
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  It makes you disengage from the present moment.
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  You're seeing it just as a stepping stone
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  just as a way to get somewhere else.
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  But Nancy Ortberg says, no, there are no
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  stepping stone jobs.
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  Be present in the job you have today,
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  today.
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  Because that's where the Lord is.
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  That's where the Lord can be found at
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  your job.
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  And when you're present, not just to your
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  work, not just to the people at your
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  work, but also to the Lord, you begin
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  to grow in His kind of patience.
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  Lord Jesus, thank you for being the patient
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  one, for being patient with us, for being
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  present with us.
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  We invite you into our work.
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  We want to be present to our work,
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  present to the people around us, and most
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  of all present to you.
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  Show us how.
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  Do your work in us as we do
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  our work with you.
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  Amen.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 14:06
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
• 14:09
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 14:12
  life.
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