“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with . . . patience” (Colossians 3:12).

I’m a regular consumer of audio podcasts. It’s an easy way for me to be filled up spiritually and to grow intellectually. A feature of my podcast app is that I can increase the playback speed. I like to keep it at 150%, which means I can consume lots of content in a short amount of time. It’s great.

But what isn’t great is when I try to impose my preferred speed on people in my life. I think you do this too. It’s called impatience, and it’s something that everyone struggles with.

Impatience is when I expect someone else to match my preferred pace. Impatience is when I act like my time is more valuable than the people around me. Impatience is what God should have for people like me and you.

But when the time was fully right, God sent his Son to live in our world at our pace. He came from the timelessness of eternity to enter a life that would now impose limits on his time. Yet what he demonstrated to everyone was a perfect patience that was content to live at the pace of the people around him.

The secret of patience is to live in the appreciation of God’s patience for you. His patience is something he wants to clothe you with today.