Faith, Diligence and Patience

UV 1498/10000 Faith, Diligence and Patience
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6 v 12

The Lord lets us do the natural, He helps us with the difficult and He specialises in the impossible. We are ourselves expected to be diligent and persevering in the tasks and responsibilities cut out for us. We are to be rich towards God in terms of our faith, our love, our grace, our wisdom, our fruit of the spirit, our prayer, praise and service. Our faith should outlast our difficulties. We should wait patiently for the Lord to answer or to fulfil the promises He has spoken into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

It is written in scripture that the hand of the diligent shall rule. The desires of the diligent are fulfilled. Diligence is the equivalent of good stewardship. The one who is slothful is equal to one who destroys. God does not appreciate negligence of our duties and responsibilities. Diligence is needed to make our calling and election sure or for the confirmation of God’s grace. The path of the diligent is safe and smooth as he thinks of the risks and problems ahead of time and takes steps to clear the mines while the path of the slothful is like scraping against a hedge of thorns as he gets hurt all along as he moves thoughtlessly. The diligent has to be proactive or think ahead of solutions to likely problems or existing challenges.

Diligence is required to remember the Word of God and to keep the commandments in terms of obedience and to keep the promises of God in terms of believing the Lord will fulfil these in due time. There is a waiting time or gestation period between doing the will of God or claiming a promise and its fulfilment in our lives. It helps to remember the faith of those who went before us and how they held onto their faith through difficult and impossible circumstances. It helps to imitate their persistence and patience. The attitude we display during the waiting periods of our lives reflect the quality of our faith. If it is rich, our patience will not get exhausted. We will not loose hope or get tired of waiting. We will not murmur or complain like the Israelites at the waters of Meribah. When we do so, we test the patience of the Lord. He is pleased when we remain thankful. Our hope will turn to bitterness, our faith to disbelief when our patience weakens. We should keep throwing the cross in the water to keep it sweet by remembering the willingness, the endurance, the unmerited suffering of the Saviour. Unmerited suffering brought us unmerited favour or grace. Since He endured and overcame, we should endure and overcome.

Prateep V Philip