I Corinthians 13:4-8a
“Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant, It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, pit does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails”.
Love is the greatest force in the universe. I John 4:8 says that “God is Love”. These verses describes what love is. If we went back and substituted God for the word love it would be describing God. As christians we are to be loving. Could we go through the list and insert our name in place of the word love? Unfortunately not. We should be getting better in each area.
Let’s go through the list of descriptions and look at each. Love is patient. Patience is a wonderful attribute. I think of a good parent or teacher. They are patient with the child. They are teaching something and the child is learning. The child’s attempt at duplicating the skill is rarely perfect. The elder affirms, but also corrects. They aren’t angry or impatient. They reword the request for the child to try again. The child doesn’t feel threatened because of the patience. This is a great environment to learn in as the child’s confidence grows as they are learning in a patient setting.
Unfortunately, few of us had perfect teachers all of the time. The bad ones are strongly etched in our memory.
Then comes the time when we become parents. This is when our patience is tested. We have to bite our tongues. We have to be the patient ones. We become parents in our twenties and thirties. We aren’t very patient at that time. We become so.
We also learn patience when we become christians. We learn that God is patient. This is almost a repeat of the child in the classroom. God becomes our teacher. Like the perfect life coach. He’s always with us, has all knowledge and power. His Word guides and corrects us. It also is a comfort. Like the comforting and encouraging words of a parent, so the bible is God’s comforting words to us.
We learn to be patient with our friends and fellow believers in Christ. Ephesians 4:2 says, “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” Patience bears with one another. This is a good friend. This is living out the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This came from Jesus in Matthew 7:12. This is so good. So much of life is us doing our jobs. So much is involved. We brush up against others trying to do their jobs. We can be impatient. We apply the golden rule. So good.
Thank You, Lord for Your patience. You model for us. Help us to be patient with others.