“I am a patient” Is different from “I am patient”.

The first describes a hospital stay.
The second describes a spiritual virtue.
It is quite possible that because someone is not patient (as a spiritual virtue), he becomes a patient (in the hospital)

The Greek Bible uses a wonderfully compelling word- MAKROTHUMIA- translated as patience (0r longsuffering in the King James). Makrothumia comes two the words Macros (which means Long) and Thumos (which means passion or breathing hard). Makrothumia means controlling hard breathing (when we react strongly we experience hard breathing) or controlling passion.

In modern English, what exactly is makrothumia? It means the attitude that does not admit defeat, rising again after every difficult experience, refusing to be crumbled by disappointments and refusing to lie down and die when discouraged.

If you can combine ENDURANCE (standing still and strong even when the storm comes) and PERSEVERANCE (moving forward no matter what), the one word that would come out is makrothumia- or patience or longsuffering

Oh Yes, patience is a spiritual gift. Like a sword in your hand. of course you know that the sword can do nothing unless you use it.

Be patient. Here is what a patient believer will say: by God’s grace and fully trusting His righteousness, I will not allow anything now to defeat me. I am winner and the winner never quits because the quitter never wins.


DC