Teach Me How to Love – I’m impatient!
Photo Credit: Google Images
Hey guys,
Happy Sunday! I hope you all enjoyed last week's post, Broken Vessels, the first post in my Sunday Inspiration series. Today I’d like to start a new topic on love. Let me give you a disclaimer – I’m not an expert on love, in fact, I don’t know much about love and that is why this series is important to me and you. We can find out more about love together so brace yourself!
Have you guys ever read 1 Corinthians 13v1-13? If you haven’t, I’d do you a favor and copy the first 6 verses below: If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Let me start by briefly talking about the first three verses. You mean to tell me that if I have faith to move a mountain, give all my possessions to the poor, and deny myself all the luxuries of life but if I do it all for show and not for love, it means absolutely nothing? That’s deep. In other words, Paul is saying that a lot of us do things for to be seen by others. Our actions are not motivated by our love for God or others, but by our desire for recognition and prominence.
There’s one word that everyone can agree on when it comes to describe love – action! Love is less about what you say and feel and more about what you do. You can’t claim to love someone and yet mistreat them.
In this post, I’d like to dwell on the first action word that describes love – patience. When I read ‘love is patient,’ I thought to myself, ‘if love is patient, there's no hope for me because my patience runs very low’. Let me give you an example. On my way to work, I pass by two railroad tracks. When there’s a train coming and the railroad crossing gates come down, we have no choice but to sit there and wait for the train to pass. It only takes a few minutes for the train to pass by but those few minutes feel like an eternity and it annoys me. I also get very impatient and frustrated when people are driving at 25 mph on a road that has 30mph as the speed limit. I have no patience whatsoever on the road!
My dad (God bless him) is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my entire life – I kid you not. When I’m in the car with him and he’s driving, he has the patience of a saint for all the clowns out there, he’d give everybody a chance to join from the side road if he had the time. If I’m running late and I need to catch a train, I’d rather drive myself than let him drive me there because I won’t make it :-).
I also get impatient and frustrated at work when I’m dealing with coworkers that are quick to ask me questions because they do not want to take time to solve problems on their own. Lastly, I absolutely hate waiting on the line for anything. It drives me crazy!
I’m sure you have your own list of things that are quick to frustrate you because you are impatient. Looking at my list, I have come to the conclusion that if love is patient then my love is completely biased and conditional. The verse does not say ‘be patient to only the people that love and care about you’. If I’m going to practice love, then I have to be patient with everyone and in all situations, that way, my love won’t be based on feelings. Our love has to be intentional. We have to choose that we are going to act in love whether we feel like or not, whether we like the person or not.
My prayer is that God will teach me how to love by being patient! That’s my first step in the first quest to learn how to love. Next week I’ll be discussing kindness. Please do share with me your thoughts on patience and what frustrates you the most.
Thank you guys for stopping by and reading my thoughts!
Until next time, stay blessed!
