Love is patient!

Love is patient. 1 Corinthians 13:4a

Good morning, friends!

I have a friend with whom I share anything & everything. Most of the times, I send texts/IMs to him knowing that he is at work. If something happens, I will update him as soon as I can irrespective of our time differences. One day when I asked him how he is so patient toward me, he replied, “Because I love you.” And so it is with my mom & dad who always listen to whatever I say. They don’t even know anything about IT, but still they listen to all I say, and always seem interested. They could tell me, “Will you please stop? We are tired of hearing this every day.” But they don’t. Why is that so? Because they love me. 

During my college days, in the early morning, some of my friends and I always woke up to pray. It was funny that several times we chose to read 5-10 verses per person, rather than reading one at a time. You know why? We thought that we could sleep before our turn comes. I can’t count how many times I prayed the same prayer again & again because I slept while I was praying. In some all-night prayers, when the fellowship leader led us in prayer giving out some prayer points to each one of us, I asked him to repeat what he assigned to me, so many times, just because I fell asleep.

But do you know the truth? God didn’t reject any of them. He heard all my prayers and He answered them. If I were to ask God why He is so patient toward me in spite of all my weaknesses, I am sure He would say, “Because I love you.” Don Moen’s recent album ‘Uncharted Territory’ has a song ‘He loves you, just because He loves you.” How meaningful! Yes, friends, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less.

1 Corinthians 13:4a tells that love is patient. It doesn’t grow tired upon hearing a lot from you. It doesn’t grow cold just because you make mistakes. I always tell my friends that if I were God, I would kill someone who seeks repentance repeatedly for the same sin.

But when I think about all these years, all we can see is, God is so patient toward us. We have done nothing to earn this love, as the Bible tells us that even before we loved Him, He loved us. He even knew us even before we were born. He knows all our strengths and weaknesses, but still He loves us. God’s love is the only love that can never fade. We are honored to have been chosen by Him.

Let us read about the characteristics of His love each day starting today. 

May God bless you!