Emphasis Preaching Journal

We have all heard that patience is a virtue. It is, as Martin Luther once claimed, "the most excellent of virtues… Although philosophers also greatly praise it, they are nevertheless ignorant of its foundation and cannot base it on the will and help of God" [like we do] (What Luther Says, p. 1024). We surely need more patience. A 2006 poll by the Associated Press (and little has changed since then) found that 1 in 4 Americans lose their patience waiting in the grocery line and that five minutes on hold on the phone and fifteen minutes in line are about all we will tolerate.