p. 150 | Patient | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 7, 1862

Patient.

"WARN them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all." It is comparatively easy to bear and to endure, especially in a righteous cause; but this is not the apostle's meaning. He says, "Be patient toward all." That is what is not easy. It is well it was not Peter who said this. He knew he had need to address an exhortation to himself. Peter was not educated to patience. Somebody who has been in the East says that the Galilean fishermen are the most profane and passionate of men; every word, every breath, is an oath. People change very little in those countries; and it is to be supposed that Peter when he was accused of being a disciple of the despised Nazarene, and recognized as such, fell back into his old habits, through fright and anxiety, and began to curse and to swear to show he was in earnest. No, Peter did not exhort men to patience. But it was Paul, the apostle, the chosen, the scholar, the preacher; and to be patient was a lesson he had learned through much trouble. Well might he, the man of powerful intellect and cultivated mind, feel the need of the precept, "Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all." It is a hard lesson to learn. "There are some things we can bear; others are beyond our power of endurance, and we own it so. If we are very magnanimous we can bear abuse, especially if we are conscious it is undeserved, and so be patient under it all. But to be maligned, to be misrepresented, misunderstood, or falsely accused, and yet be patient, is not an easy lesson to learn. How can we take it patiently when we feel that they ought to know better, perhaps do know better, and give way either to unreasonable prejudice or a love of abuse? And yet Paul the apostle makes no reservation: "Be patient toward ALL."

Well, we will try. We have not the temptations of Peter, nor the sore trials of Paul; and what Paul bore, by the grace of God we can bear. Only we wish people would be right-minded and reasonable! So they will be in that day when we also are perfect. Then we shall have no need of patience.—Sel.