Love is Patient and Love is Kind • Deshen Daily

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV)

We should attend to love for two significant reasons. First, it weighs more on God’s heavenly balances than all spiritual gifts and things we do “for God.” Second, it furnishes honey that sweetens people’s lives and human relationships. So love pleases heaven and beautifies earth. Without it, even the most powerful spiritual gifts such as prophecy are useless to God ( 1 Cor. 13:2). Therefore, we will consider the first two qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13 in this devotional: patience and kindness.

Though love begins with an affection of the heart, 1 Corinthians 13 presents love as the way we act towards others. It is not merely how we feel about people but how we act towards them. And that way of acting begins with being patient with others.

Love is patient means love enables us to bear unpleasant situations for the good of others. Patience endures an uncomfortable situation and does not complain about it. Few things test our love for others as being patient with their faults, weaknesses, or mistakes—without attempting to fix them immediately or make them be what we think they should be. Still, patience is not agreeing with wrongdoing; instead, it provides a healthy environment for people to change.

Love is not only patient but is kind: It considers the needs of others and takes actions to meet those needs, whether physical or spiritual. The kindness of love will cause us to help others financially or provide the material things they need. Besides physical needs, love also meets the needs of the heart—most important of all. For instance, when we forgive someone, we give them the gift of forgiveness: one of the best expressions of human kindness.

Husbands love your wives, and wives love your husbands. Parents love your children, and children love your siblings. Believers love your pastors, and pastors love other ministers. The list continues, but this is the summary: the Lord commands us to love one another.