“Love suffers long and is kind…” (1 Cor. 13:4 NKJV).
Love never fails. It always works. You can count on it, regardless of who you are dealing with. It is important to note two critical ingredients that must come to the forefront of your behavior for you to endure until you see the victory. These two ingredients found in love are patience and kindness.
Patience is love passive. That means it’s in no hurry, it will wait a long time. It will bear up under adversity for a long time. It is always believing and hoping positively. It endures everything that comes against it.
Patience says, “I can handle it.” First Corinthians 13:4 says that “Love endures long….” My definition of the word endure is to take a licking and keep on ticking. It doesn’t matter what happens, patience can endure it because it knows that the Greater One is on the inside of them. And greater is Jesus, the anointing, that is in you than the devil that’s in the world.
Then there is the second ingredient found in First Corinthians 13 and that is kindness. Kindness is love in action. That kind of love never acts rashly or insolently or disrespectfully. Note here that once you decide to walk in love, you must do it consistently. Love must be a way of life. Jesus doesn’t love us one day, then despise us the next. He loves at all times, being very patient and kind toward us.
Jesus said in Revelation 3:16 that He’d rather you be constantly hot or even be constantly cold. What He can’t stand is inconsistency. Some of the seven churches to whom this letter is addressed were lukewarm. Sometimes up, and sometimes down. They blamed God for their problems one minute, and were worshipping Him the next.
They were afraid of what the future held one day, and were operating in faith the next.
You must have faith at all times, and be patient enough to see the result of your faith. And the same thing is true about love. Love is consistent. It means that I love you all the time. I love you when you act good and I love you when you don’t. I love you when you do what I want and I love you when you don’t.
Patience and kindness always work, because love always works. Patience is always willing to wait, and kindness is always respectful and willing to help others in need. Thus they are expressed out of the covenant relationship God has with man; God, in His patience with us, and kindness toward us, remembers His covenant and receives us when we accept Jesus as the Lord of our life.
Scripture References: Psalm 86:5; 89:2,28; Joel 2:13
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Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.
He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).