Should people be patient?

Yes.

The Bible says God waited patiently for Noah to get done building the ark before flooding the earth. And God didn’t mind Abraham repeatedly challenging his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn’t get angry when Abraham repeatedly asked what he would do if there were increasingly small numbers of good people there.

So God is patient. Otherwise, he would have destroyed everybody by now. The Bible describes God as long-suffering, forbearing, and patient. It says God is love, and love is patient. And everything God does is right, so we should follow his example and be patient.

According to the Bible, Jesus is God, and Jesus is immensely patient too, which is an example we should follow.

David says you should wait patiently for God to help you. That’s what he did, and God approved of everything David ever did.

Solomon says being patient shows that you have great understanding, and being quick-tempered shows that you’re a fool. Hot-tempered people start conflicts, and patient people resolve them. Patience is better than pride, and better than being a warrior.

Paul advised his followers to be patient. He said love is patient, and you should follow the way of love. He commended himself for remaining patient throughout all his hardships. Forbearance is one of the fruits of the Spirit. (And also there’s no law against it, which means you should definitely do it!) Paul prayed for God to give his followers great endurance and patience.

Christians should imitate people who have been patient enough to get what God promised them. James says you should patiently wait for Jesus to come back, like a farmer patiently waits for rain.

Jesus commands you to patiently endure the trials he’s going to inflict on you, and if you do, then maybe he’ll give you a break from them for an hour. Or something. You might be destined to be taken captive and killed with a sword, but just be patient. Everyone is going to be forced to worship the beast, and then everyone who worships the beast will go to hell forever. But being patient will help, apparently, somehow.

No.

Job was blameless and upright, so whatever he did must be right. And Job not only was not patient, he didn’t even think there was any reason he should be patient.

God isn’t patient either, as we can see in Micah: Micah reported that God was planning disaster and disgrace for Israel. The false prophets disagreed with Micah, because they thought God would not become impatient and do things like that. But that should not be said, because God does become impatient and do things like that. And everything God does is right, so we should follow his example and be impatient.

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