1 Corithians 13 Part 1: Love Is Patient, Kind And Does Not Envy Series

Before we start on the list though, its important to remember one thing we mentioned this morning that is not specifically mentioned here, but rather assumed. The love Paul is talking about is not an emotion. It is a not a feeling. It is a conscious decision of the will to put others needs before our own. In some cases this may be accompanied by a feeling or an emotion, but that is not what Paul is talking about. Paul is talking about the action, the decision of the will.

Love is patient

Love is patient. Firstly Jesus. The number one thought on this one that sprang to my mind was Jesus with the disciples. They followed Jesus around for 3 years. They heard all of his teaching, they saw all of his miracles, they even had Jesus private teaching and explanations that were for them alone. And they still didn’t get it. It was the chief priests that saw that Jesus talked about resurrection and posted a guard on the tomb, while the disciples forgot everything and thought that his death was the end. One minute Peter can call Jesus, the Messiah and the next he proves that he really doesn’t get what that means. Even after the resurrection and Jesus appears to his disciples, we saw on Wednesday that Matthew 28 says some still doubted. And yet through all this unbelief, this stubbornness, this just not getting it, Jesus is patient. He doesn’t give up. He doesn’t stop trying to teach them. He does say, you’re never going to get his. No matter how clearly I explain this you’re never going to understand who I really am. Look just forget it, I’ll start again with a brighter bunch. No love is patient. We notice also in his dealing with sinners and with religious leaders, he was patient.

So what about us, are we patient. Love is patient, is not so much talking about being patient with things (although this is good too) but being patient with people. Now some of us are naturally this way and some of us are not. About a lot things I can be extremely patient. If it doesn’t happen today, it’ll happen tomorrow, I can wait. This frustrates some people about me, who think I should have more of a sense of urgency about some things. But sometimes some people can really try your patience. When I used to help with maths tutorials at Uni, it was sometimes very frustrating to explain the same idea over and over again, in many different ways and for people just not to get it. What made it really frustrating is when people refuse to accept the simple stuff, the premises on which everything else is founded. Let x be any number. But its not a number it’s a letter. Yes but it represents any number. No it’s a letter, who can it be a number. And so on. We have similar ideas in theology and church, God is one being but three persons, but how can that be? I can’t accept that, but what about... Love is patient, and this is not limited to church and theology, it includes being patient with the slowest maths student, because of love, because you have made a conscious decision that they are more important than you.