1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud [5] or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. [6] It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. [7] Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Yesterday was a torrid time for me internally - everything seemed to "get on my nerves"!
Every time I tried to work, some other matter clawed at me for attention.
If my thoughts could have been a movie it wouldn't have been something out of the passage above.
I just wanted to be quiet and alone...
God's word always pulls me up sharp at such times.
It's interesting that this chapter on love starts with what love is not!
I certainly am aware when I am not loving and I know when someone isn't loving toward me.
In the intensity of daily life, how challenging that the definition of love starts with patience!
"Ouch!" That hits home, doesn't it?
Patience - taking my time to calmly explain when someone doesn't hear or understand, choosing to prefer someone else's good instead of my own; being able to stop what I'm doing to help someone else.
Patience's twin sister is kindness... It's almost impossible to be patient without being kind.
Kindness goes hand in hand with it.
Patience certainly isn't helping someone, but making them feel like they're a nuisance and that I'm doing them a great favour!
How often am I guilty of that one!!
Thank Our Lord Jesus that He sent the Holy Spirit to come alongside each one of us in order to encourage the growth of love in our lives.
Galatians 5:25 NLT
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.
Time to take a deep breath and follow the Holy Spirit in EVERY part of my life!
Easier said than done!
If You, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with You there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve You. Psalm 130:3-4
God is always patient with me, so I must return the favour to others out of a loving, grateful heart..
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