Your Daily Devotional for September 12, 2007

 

September 12,  2007

 

 

Patient and Kind

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil."

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

 

 

Two women were once talking about their husbands. The one wife was commenting on how calm and easygoing her husband was. The other one then said, "My husband is very temperamental as well. He is ninety percent temper, and ten percent mental."

 

As we have seen over the past few days, God desires for us to love others in the power of His love. We must make sure our actions and motives for serving others are out of a heart of love. If we are not careful, many times serving and loving others can become routine. We must make sure we are showing our love to others out of a heart of true love. Today, we will see two helpful characteristics about true love.

 

First, love is patient. As we saw a few days ago, the term for patience in the Bible is longsuffering. This word has the idea of a putting off of anger and being patient in our reactions. When we love others, we are more patient and longsuffering in our responses to them.

 

Love practices being patient. The term "suffereth long" used in verse four has the idea of being patient with people. I once heard the quote, "To dwell above with those we love, oh that will be glory. To dwell below with those we know, well that's another story." It isn't always easy to get along with everyone because we are all human and often make mistakes! But as we seek to have God's love in our hearts, we will be able to practice patience to those around us.

 

We see an example of patience out of love in Acts 7:59-60, "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." While Stephen could have argued or fought back, he had patience and loved those who were persecuting him. We must be patient and love others even when we are wronged.

 

Also, love is kind. Just as patience will take anything from others, kindness will give anything to others. To be kind means to be useful, forbearing, and gracious. We must be kind to others even when they are not kind to us. God does not command us to be kind only if others deserve it. We surely do not deserve His kindness! Yet, because He loves us, He is kind and gracious to us. When we love others out of a love for God, it will be easier to be kind when others are not kind to us.

 

If we are to love others and be kind to them, we must have unity. First Peter 3:8-9 says, "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing." God desires that we would be of one mind with fellow believers. We cannot be of one mind if we are constantly fighting or being bitter at others. We must forgive and forget when others wrong us and show Christ's love by being kind to them.

 

True biblical love is patient and kind to others. There will be times in each of our lives when we are wronged and we simply want to lash out in revenge. But God desires that we would act out of love and be patient and kind. How are your reactions to difficult situations? Are you patient and kind even when you are wronged? Ask God right now to help you have true love for others by being patient and kind today.

 

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Proverbs 13-15 • 2 Corinthians 5

 

 

 

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