January 6

Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. — Heb 6:12 BSB

Patience is essential to prove the genuineness and reality of faith. God generally—almost always—doesn’t accomplish His purposes all at once. He usually works step by step. Isn’t this true of creation? Do we see an oak tree grow to full size in a single day? Isn’t it a tiny acorn planted in the ground that grows into the giant oak, whose branches we admire, over the course of a century? Likewise, men and women take years to grow to full maturity.

The same is true spiritually. “Whoever believes will not act hastily.” Faith in the soul typically grows slowly because God ensures that every step in the journey is tested by the difficulties and challenges we face. He has designed it this way to distinguish the faith of His chosen ones from the faith of those who only appear to live while they are spiritually dead. They fall away, just like the seed that fell on rocky ground—they believe for a while, but in times of temptation, they give up. The obstacles of nature, sin, the devil, and the world overpower them, so they turn back, often abandoning all profession of religion and dying in their sins. But the Lord’s people can’t die in that way. Their faith is enduring because whatever God does lasts forever. Their faith withstands every storm and lasts through eternity.