Be patient until the Lord returns.
—James 5:7
We drum our fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to change. We boot our computer and wait for the operating system to kick in: “Come on, come on!” We don’t like to wait.
Thirty years had passed since Jesus had left the earth when James wrote his letter. Christians were eager for his return, tired of waiting—mentally chanting, “Come on, come on!” “My friends, be patient until the Lord returns,” James counseled.
He cited Job’s patience: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Jb 19:25). “You know,” James wrote, “how God brought it all together for him at the end” (Jas 5:11).
He could come today, or it may be a while. But he will come!
Patience is a calm acceptance when things happen
at a different pace than what you had in mind.