[Editor’s note: This is part four of the “Fruits in Season” series, exploring the impact of the biblical “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16–24) on Christians during election season. Find the full series here.]

The waiting is the hardest part.

Tom Petty was right, you know. Waiting is hard. Petty’s 1981 hit song was a prescient look at the prevailing sentiment of the mid-2020s. From DoorDash to Instacart to Instant Pot to Prime Same-Day Delivery, we (with apologies to Queen) want it all, and we want it now. Think about it: we no longer wait to get photos developed, we no longer have to go to the video store to rent a movie, and if we want our bread to rise faster, we can buy rapid-rise yeast. We don’t even have to wait for watermelons to be in season, we can buy them at any time. If patience is a virtue, we are not a very virtuous nation.

Yet there it is — the pesky virtue of patience sits as the fourth item in the Apostle Paul’s listing in Galatians 5:16-24 of the fruit of the Spirit. As a fruit of the Spirit, patience is a product of the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer. It’s evidence of walking by the Spirit. Like love, joy, and peace before it, it’s a quality that often gets drowned out in stressful times. And there are few more stressful times than the clamor of an election season.

Patient Talk

Patience is tossed by the wayside really quickly in our political dialogue, especially in online communication. The “hot take” has become exhibit A in lack of patience. There’s no shortage of someone making a provocative claim on social media, then boosting their post’s engagement with disagreeable comments. Everyone is an expert, it seems, and everyone thinks they should contribute to the conversation, and they should contribute now.

I wish I could tell you that all these readily available forms of mass communication contributed to a robust, productive conversation. Don’t get me wrong, social media does have its benefits, and I don’t deny finding many of those benefits useful. Most of the time, however, social media political conversation disintegrates as hot takes quickly turn to name-calling, and name-calling turns to cancellation.

Those who walk by the Spirit have a better goal for speech. As James wrote:

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19–20, ESV).

Quick speech is a stone’s throw from quick anger. Being slow to speak shields us from a variety of escalating sins. It also keeps us from presumptive error. As Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” Patient speech in a heightened political season presumes nothing and allows the truth to reveal itself.

Patient Walk

On November 7, 2000 at 7:50 p.m., CBS News called the U.S. presidential election for Senator Albert Gore, Jr, reporting that Gore had defeated Governor George W. Bush in Florida. At 9:20 p.m. the network retracted the call. The counting drama of the Bush/Gore 2000 election is well known, but it can all be boiled down to a lack of patience. This is why it now often takes weeks to know who wins an election.

On November 5, 2024, we very likely won’t know who the winner is. Margins are thin. Jumping to conclusions won’t help. Patient prayer for the nation might be a better response than an immediate victory dance in front of those you think are the losers.

Ultimately, even if your candidate — from president down to soil conservation board member — doesn’t win, a Spirit-produced patience can bring great comfort. The prophet Isaiah said:

“Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30–31, ESV).

Faithfully walking patiently during election season means slowing down our frenetic speech and slowing down walking ahead of the Lord. The waiting is the hardest part, but with the waiting, the Lord brings his people relief. It may not be the immediate gratification that we’re used to, but it will be strong, and it will be lasting.