Divine patience

Peter calls upon God's people to "consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation." God's patience lies behind the saving favour that every child of God enjoys and will enjoy. Here we think about the patience God shows before someone becomes a Christian, when they are becoming a Christian, and after they have become a Christian. Such contemplations fill the heart of a child of God with humble wonder, and—far from inciting the wicked to indulge their sin—should be the very thing which draw sinners to repent.