"Patience" generally assumes that there will be a reward or some type of gratification unless the patient one is crazy. It may be that jihadists can't wait to be killed, but although the immediate reward is death, it's still for the gratification in being martyred. It's just difficult to think of rational reasons were patience and gratification might be mutually exclusive!
My own definition of "patience" is "the ability to wait long periods of time for gratification". Those who are willing to wait long periods of time for punishment, are not patient, but merely pragmatic or living life! Therefore, gratification is the goal of patient people in most cases. "Gratification", in this context, is waiting on satisfaction or happiness.
Christians are called to be patient.
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."Wow! This says so much! First off, what is the "gratification" for which we wait? We shall reap the harvest! The harvest is the abundance for which we wait! All religions, including Christianity, are alike in one respect: disciples of all religions await some type of reward. Somehow each religion offers gratification in some form! For many Baalism offers rain, fertility and good crops. For those who worship the goddess Diana or Artemis, the reward is "a good hunt". Rewards from the goddess Venus are love, sex, fertility, prosperity and desire. Mohammed offered heaven and 72 virgins. Christianity offers eternal life and several different types of crowns.
In all religions adherents wait on gratification. In some religions, it's immediate gratification and in others it's for the long haul. Some only need to await the end of the growing season, but for most, we await the gratification patiently. The seasons of the various religions come due at different times, but of the "Big Four": Christianity, Islam, Hinduism/Buddhism and Judaism; the harvests are: eternal life (Christianity), being taken care of by Allah and Paradise (Islam), moral balance and bliss (Hindu's) and for the (Jews): diaspora, the Jewish Messiah, the afterlife and the revival of the dead. We all believe in gratification of different types and most of those deal with eternal life and it's rewards.
The "due season" for each of these harvests are when we die! Of course Hindu's believe that they keep on living after dying numerous times until the evil is paid for (good karma for bad karma). The other religions recognize one physical death. The "due season" is when all will finally die and leave the world. That is what we wait patiently for! Most of us wait patiently for eternal reward, but fear crossing over from physical life and the transition from natural to supernatural. Most often there is pain and dread involved, offering no comfort nor reward. We aren't patient with physical death, but fear it, although reward is on the other side of natural life!
For most there is a promised reward providing certain things. Christianity offers no hope for non-Christians. Pagans are those who have no hope in eternal life with Christ. They don't wait patiently, but with fear and apprehension. Atheists don't believe in a "reward" nor will there be any type of eternal harvest to reap. For them, without promised gratification, death merely means the end of them. They don't wait on death. Death awaits them! Therefore, they are neither patient nor impatient to to die, there being no reward. It effects this life because without an harvest, there is no hope!
What do people do while they wait patiently? They do "well-doing" which is "good works". Christianity is the only religion where "well-doing" is not associated with the final reward to be reaped. We are promised our reward without cost. It's free and is a gift of God! For all the others of the "Big Four" works is the avenue to eternal life. To reap the harvest the agrarian must be industrious. For a Christian, to reap the harvest requires only faith. Faith is much like a muscular system. Everyone has a little muscle, but to be well-developed and have that "six-pack" requires exercise. Those with strong faith commune and obey God daily. We demonstrate to God our faith by showing him how much we love him. Therefore, while we patiently await our final reward, we are "doing good things". Patience is not growing weary in doing good!
People tell their kids "You have to be good or Santa won't bring you anything for Christmas". The reward they are to reap by "being good" is toys at Christmas. However, most youngsters (and oldsters) can't do good all year and fail. They grow weary of "well-doing". The reward is not worth the effort and because the reward is at the end of the year, their eyes are weak. They fail to see the prize!
1 Corinthians 9:24 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."The race is not one of speed, but one of patience. It's running the course with hurdles ever so often and irregularly spaced. One may even run with ball and chain. However, the race must be run so that the prize is received! The runner, although burdened, can't grow weary. The prize is there and within sight, but patience is required to finish the hard course. "Faith" is the course and Satan and his dark angels are the obstacles! Satan creates mud on the course and erects high hurdles to jump, but "with God, all things are possible!". If you run diligently and patiently, the race will be finished and you will win the prize!
Paul, in this letter, demonstrated that patience is dependent on gratification! Without the promise of heaven those who merely "do good" for the sake of humanity will soon grow weary because in he end, there is no prize! Sure, Satan awards great progress reports "Joe works really hard and puts in much effort!", but in the end, Satan can't give the student an "A" because it's not earned... it's a gift of the good teacher!
The prize will be rewarded if we "faint not"! That doesn't mean that we get to physically drained, but that we don't get discouraged and give up! Faith isn't something we have for a short time to get "saved", but is a lifestyle for those who are saved!
James 1:12 (ESV) "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."Steadfast" is unshakable faith! The "trial" are those hurdles erected by Satan. His job is to make you fall down and not get up. Those runners who fail to clear the hurdle, or fall in the attempt, are in jeopardy... unless they get up and allow God to boost them over! Satan blocks the runner, God guards him! Those who love God are assured that God will run with them and shield them from harm. Steadfast faith is "the test" and for those whose faith is not destroyed receives as gratification: "the crown of life" ... eternal life!
"Self-gratification" is the god of those who fail to submit to Jesus. The "original problem" was that Adam and Eve didn't fail to worship God, but put another god "before him". In their quest for gratification: good to eat, pleasing to the eye and knowledge; their god became "Self". What they sought was to gratify the self. Patience is putting the "self" aside and sincerely worshiping God. It's the "well-doing" we do for God's glorification rather than the hurry we have for self-gratification.
Patience and hurry are in opposition! Most people today, and maybe always, seek immediate gratification! With the tree right there, that's what Adam and Eve had! In modern times, "Pleasure" rules! Pleasure is one part of the "Trinity of Self": Pleasure, Wealth and Power! Those are the things we seek which glorify the Self, but undermine God. Patience is how we honor God. That's putting him before Self. "Hurry" is how we glorify the Self and for most Selves, it must be immediately!
People want that new car right now! They want a good living right now! They want to have a girl friend right now! They want that coffee right now! Just as people are happy and even prefer instant coffee, they also seek instant love, instant wealth, instant happiness and instant everything! People worship the "Self" and their Eucharist is desire and desire! Their bread is broken and their wine consumed as "oft as they think of themselves"! They rarely think on the things of God. It's all about "Me", the god of "Self".
Therefore, patience is the true worship of God. But, while we're being patient, we don't sit around idly! We are to be consumed by "well-doing". Well-doing is for God and others! It's toppling the god "Self" (Dagon) and erecting a mighty fortress to protect our own faith. We patiently strengthen the walls of that fortress layer by layer in "well-doing". The prize is in sight, if we remain patient. Don't look back at the "Self" who is right behind you! Yes, running the race is a race against "Self". The "Self" won't get the prize, but he wants you to slip and fall too! Be patient in your "well-doing" and "Self" will be the one who is lost in the first lap!
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