Bible League: Living His Word Love is patient and kind.— 1 Corinthians 13:4 ERV Known as "the love chapter" in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 13 lists several qualities of unconditional love—what it is and what it is not. The Apostle Paul starts off his list with a doozy! The very first attribute of unconditional love is that it is patient. The New Testament was written in ancient Greek and the ancient Greek word translated as "patient" literally means long-suffering. The patience of unconditional love is more than just biding your time and waiting for something to get better. It is enduring through difficulty even if it never gets better. Paul pulls no punches when it comes to what love is like. It is patient and enduring. It is sticking it out, even if it means suffering for a long time. Love endures and doesn't give up on someone. Love is patient and keeps going amid suffering. Love is patient, and—if you want to love someone unconditionally—you must be patient, too. After all, Jesus is patient with you and me. Think of all the times we have failed to live up to Jesus' expectations of us. We were dead in our transgressions and doomed for eternity! But God was patient with us (2 Peter 3:15), and He is patient with others who will come to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. Jesus patiently endured the cross as He took the punishment that our sins deserved. He suffered so much on our behalf! Jesus is our example of what it means to love patiently. Has He ever given up on us? Will He ever give up on us? No, He won't. Love is patient because the Lord is patient. We need to be patient with others as the Lord has been patient with us. The next time you're ready to throw in the towel on a relationship, remember that love is patient. Instead of giving up on someone, give them to the Lord in prayer. Pray for that person who needs an extra measure of patient love. Pray for yourself, that God would grant you the grace to show patience toward that person. Pray and thank God that He has been patient with you throughout the course of your life. The Lord is patient and we should be too, because love is patient. By Shawn Cornett, Bible League International staff, Indiana U.S. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Chronicles 23, 24, 25 1 Chronicles 23 -- Solomon Reigns; Levites, Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Chronicles 24 -- Divisions of Levites into 24 Orders NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Chronicles 25 -- Numbers and Divisions of Musicians NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading John 11:1-17 John 11 -- Jesus Comforts Martha and Mary, Raises Lazarus; The Plot to Kill Jesus NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion But the LORD is in his holy Temple.Let all the earth be silent before him. Insight Idols have no life, no personhood, no power; they are empty chunks of wood or stone. Temples built to idols are equally empty; no one lives there. But the Lord is in his temple. He is real, alive, and powerful. He is truly and fully God. Idolaters command their idols to save them, but we who worship the living God come to him in silent awe, with great respect, and with reverence. Challenge We acknowledge that God is in control and knows what he is doing. Idols remain silent, because they cannot answer. The living God, by contrast, speaks through his Word. Approach God reverently and wait silently to hear what he has to say. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Lamentations 3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.Memory is frequently the bond slave of despondency. Dispairing minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus it was in Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me;" and now this same memory restored him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with one edge, and then slew his despair with the other. As a general principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime. Be it ours to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to rehearse his deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and when the Divine Comforter bends it to his service, it may be chief among earthly comforters. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.Proverbs 22:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!" Hebrews 12:1,2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, • fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 9:26,27 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; • but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 7:31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. 2 Peter 3:13,14 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. • Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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