As I was seeking the Lord and asking for a greater measure of His presence, I called out to Him, “I am after Your heart. I am after You! I want my life to LOOK like this is true!” He made it clear, that if this is what I truly want, I must make LOVE my FIRST and only agenda of the day. I must desire Love before all else. I must make LOVE the primary focus of each day. This is what it means to seek first His Kingdom.
That sounds beautiful and actually a bit easy at first. Love the children and my husband. Speak kind words of encouragement, give gentle correction, show compassion and mercy in everyday living. But I have KNOWN that for years. What am I missing?
Then a dear sister suggested that I study – really study with focus and intent – 1Corinthians 13:4-8. That was hard! I have that passage memorized, in several different translations! It’s so familiar, how could it really help? But I know that sometimes treasures are hidden in the obvious places, so I began to study this passage.
The Lord is Good! And so is His word, I haven’t gotten past the first three words of the first verse!!
Love is patient…
One translation says, Love suffers long (long-suffering is listed under patient in the thesaurus).
WOW!
In our culture, love is supposed to elicit happy feelings and giddiness, not suffering! As I thought about this, I wrote down my first impressions of what "suffers long" looks like: endures, puts up with much, does not react in anger, understands. Examples in everyday life would be: to remain calm and level under ANY circumstances, to show understanding, to meet intense (an immature) emotion WITHOUT emotion.
This is a supernatural work if I’ve ever seen one – It is a work of the Holy Spirit that is only remotely possible if one is steeped in the presence of the Lord. God is love, and we must strengthen ourselves in Him to receive this kind of long-suffering love so that it can flow out of us. Only then can we be truly patient.
More to come...
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