Today, in preparing Sunday's sermon, I was thinking a little about patience. By patience I mean not the ability to wait but the ability to graciously overlook the faults and foibles of others. Proverbs 14 and 15 make two statements about patient people. 14:29 says, "A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly." In Proverbs, wisdom/understanding and folly are moral terms. Solomon is saying that person who is patient with the faults of others will live righteously while the one who is impatient will make poor moral choices. Patience with others is a key component to a God-pleasing life. Without such patience, we feel license to do all sorts of things we should not do.
Proverbs 15 also comments on patience. Verse 18 says, "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel." Here, the verse states quite explicitly that being patient with the fault of others leads to peace and the avoidance of conflict. If we want to have peace, we need to be patient.
I find it interesting that both verses contrast patience with anger. Looking at this from the anger side of the coin, it suggests that anger is caused by a lack of patience with others. The more we tolerate others faults and extend grace as Jesus extended grace to us, the less angry we will be.
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