Not to be too "Bible Study" on everyone but I just wanted to go to each of the 15 aspects of love one at a time. So here we go!
Love is... Patient
"Patience is a virtue!" is something that I heard a lot growing up. Patience is such a huge part of being a Christian and I feel like it can be overlooked. Patience is a "virtue", a fruit of the spirit, and an aspect of love. If it is mentioned so much in the Bible that should mean that it's really important, right?
I also think that why it's mentioned so many times is because it really is one of the hardest things to have in your life. You have to love like Christ and model a godly life to be patient with people. Patience is "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering, without getting angry or upset." This does not sound like an easy thing to me.
Now I am sure other people are like this but I always considered myself a patient person. Then one day God decided that I should see how human and impatient I truly am. For a week it seemed like every single thing that happened would call for me to be patient. I had to accept and love people through the delay, trouble, and suffering of myself. It was so incredibly aggravating! By the end of that week and saw how weak I was. I had to hold in my frustration and then I would go and ask God for strength and for love. I walked out of my dorm room one day in a silent fury and saw 1 Corinthians 13 written on the white board by my Core Advisor... It seems like she would always team up with God to convict me at all the right times.
It is easy to be patient when you wait for a person for a few extra minutes. It can be pretty easy to wait in line, wait for a phone call, or wait for your food to come. What about tolerating trouble or suffering? I think that is where the patience of Christ come into play. It is not so easy to be patient when you have to be patient with a person who does every one of your pet peeves, when you are going to be late to a very important event because of another person, and when somebody hurts you over and over again. I don't know about you but these things are hard for me to be patient with.
This is true love for others. When we prioritize others above ourselves and "love our neighbor as ourself" we are going to have to be patient with them. They were running late, you still love them and do not lash out at them. They keep insulting you, you do not insult them back and instead pray for them and keep loving them. The person may seem annoying to you, but is that the love of God? We are to love others as God has loved us. Do you not think that God has been so patient with us? God is so immensely patient! He deals with all of our broken promises and sins that we are addicted to. He still loves us because He is love and love is patient.
I find myself so selfish that I take the patient love of God for myself but I do not want to show it to others. As Christians we are to be known by our love. I learned so much about what true love is when I was an intern at Teen Mania. I lived with five girls that I had never met before, I worked with people I did not know very well and talked to all types of people on the phone all day. Most importantly I learned more about the love God has for us, and it was a breakthrough moment in my life. I was shocked to see a glimpse of Gods incredible love for me and for us all. Then I found a verse saying to love others as He first loved us... So I am supposed to love people n the way God loves me? How can I possibly do that?
Through Christ...
Oh, patience! You are such a difficult fruit to cultivate and such a difficult part of love to constantly show. Something that you should be careful of is a prayer for patience. God tends to not give us what we pray for when they are character traits, he gives us the opportunity to grow in it. Also, boasting to yourself that you are patient is dangerous, as previously stated. It is still a good thing to grow in though. If you feel like you are not patient then ask for it and then be prepared to grow.
So is there ever a time where we should stop being patient? Well, is there ever an appropriate time to not love others as Christ said to? We tend to think, "I'll be patient, but there is a point where they don't deserve to have me be patient and they just need to grow up and learn a lesson."
Love is not supposed to be an easy thing, an overly romantic thing, or just an emotion we feel for others. It is hard work. We always are to be patent/loving! What they do does not matter because Christ loved us through all the junk in our lives and we should show that same love.
I want to be a patient person. I want to be okay with circumstances and trouble caused by others. To do this I need the love of Christ and His strength to do so. So let us all practice cultivating patience in our lives from now on, and be patience even through the suffering, just as Christ was.
Keeping the Faith,
C.A.M.
Photo Credit: http://livelovederby.blogspot.com/
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