Love. We talk about it, write about it, sing about it. But the real power of love is what we DO about it. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s well-known chapter on love, he says that without love we are nothing. Nothing. In verses 4–7, he gives the ingredients of love: what it is and does and what it isn’t and doesn’t do. Let’s spend the next ten days in this space examining these ingredients.
Love is Patient
Be patient, bearing with one another.
—Ephesians 4:2
When Paul wrote “Love is patient,” the word he used depicts patience with people, not circumstances.
It counsels us to exercise the same patience with people that God exercises with us: “[God] is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pt 3:9).
Patience is the apparel of a meek and quiet spirit. It isn’t in a hurry; it will wait for people to grow and change. The King James had it, love “suffereth long.” Leo Tolstoy said, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
Love moves us to put up with people who we’re inclined to put down. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph 4:2).
“To be patient shows intelligence; to overlook faults is a man’s glory” (Prv 19:11).
Be patient. The storm will pass.
Winter will give way to Spring.