Patience of the Saints

TimeWatch Editorial
April 22, 2016

The theory of patience is quite often a lost premise. Our desire for gratification dominates everything we do. The shortest route is considered the wisest pathway, and any hesitation that prolongs a conclusion is perceived to be a waste of time. In our deliberation, we strive to arrive at the path that will provide the maximum outcome in the shortest time with the least expenditure. I would agree that in many cases we do reach our goals, but often, the unintended consequences prove to be more costly than we can ultimately afford. What is even more disturbing is that we often never recognize the consequence of some of our decisions at all. Events which occur sometime after, which appear to be completely unrelated, if carefully analyzed, would be seen to have been directly related to actions which at the time were considered successful. In fact, a collection of decisions today might in about a month or so, produce an event that will then seem unconnected but in actuality be the result of those earlier decisions.

“Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, then, is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. Generally, delayed gratification is associated with resisting a smaller but more immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later.” Carducci, Bernardo J. (2009). "Basic Processes of Mischel's Cognitive-Affective Perspective: Delay of Gratification and Conditions of Behavioral Consistency". The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications.

The concept of patience then, releases the mind from the burden of immediacy, allowing for careful examination of possible outcomes, and a careful balancing of varied consequences, immediate and long term.

“A person's ability to delay gratification relates to other similar skills such as patience, impulse control, self-control and willpower, all of which are involved in self-regulation. Broadly, self-regulation encompasses a person's capacity to adapt the self as necessary to meet demands of the environment.” Doerr, Celeste E.; Baumeister, Roy F. (2011). "Self-Regulatory Strength and Psychological Adjustment: Implications of the Limited Resource Model of Self-Regulation"

In other words, the utilization of patience depends upon the development of our character traits that must be present in order to choose wisely. Quite often we are ill-equipped to properly evaluate reward because of our hasty desire.

“Delaying gratification is the reverse of delay discounting, which is "the preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger but delayed rewards" and refers to the "fact that the subjective value of reward decreases with increasing delay to its receipt." Anokhin, Andrey P.; Golosheykin, Simon; Grant, Julia D.; Heath, Andrew C (2010) "Heritability of Delay Discounting in Adolescence:

So we find ourselves preferring instant gratification, rather than to wait for a much larger reward in the future. But to be patience, to be able to properly evaluate the situation, to see the true value that will be available in the future and be willing to wait for it, that in itself, even before the reward is achieved, is a reward in itself. The lasting value of the ability to differentiate between a gift that will fade away and rust and a reward that will have eternal consequence is in itself a gift that will never fade away. Listen to what Joseph Jung has to say about it.

“Patience or forbearing is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on negative annoyance/anger; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one can have before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.” Character Building II, By Joseph Jung

The book of Revelation, in chapter 14 describes an absolute rewarding kind of patience. After describing the hour of judgment and warning concerning the fall of Mystery Babylon, the faithful children of God are called out from among those who rebel against God. There will be a time of persecution, but the endurance of God’s true children is described this way”

Revelation 14:12 - Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

What is clearly implied then is that sainthood is dependent upon the virtue of patience.

Cameron A. Bowen