So, I needed a break from the rather horrid trig homework i was working on and remembered an awesome verse I read last night...
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient bearing with one another with love." Ephesians 4:2
I don't know about you guys, but these are 4 very serious challenges. I mean, as if loving everyone wasn't hard enough, we need to be patient, gentle, and humble. And I'm going to be honest, patience may be a virtue, but a virtue much needed by me in some situations. For instance, I can be very patient with kids but give me someone my age, and explaining things more than once drives me crazy. I must apologize to some of my best friends because I am not good at explaining something the second time. I try, but usually by the third time i have to take a very deep breath.
Next off, I am not exactly gentle, to say the least. I feel being blunt works as good as anything in a lot of situations. And i think, this goes with my patience problem. I should probably be more gentle and this could help with patience :)!
And as far as being humble, I do not think it is in human nature to be humble. Not that i think everyone is mr./mrs. super ego who brags all the time, BUT when we are good at something if nothing else, we will do what we're good at for the soul reason to subtly show people what we can do. If you have a gift, you should us it for God's glory and not your own.
The definition of Love in 1 Corinthians 13 adresses all of these issues, so if your living true Godly love, these should all be covered... The key word here being Godly. Wordly love is not patient, kind, it does envy, it does boast, it is proud. It is rude, self-seeking, it is easily angered. It rejoices in evil. It doesn't protect, hope or preserves. All of this is true because wordly love is selfish. Wordly love doesn't love without personal game. Even the love for spouces, family, and friends in a wordly view is selfish. Would you love them under all circumstances, if your friends were mean to you would they still be your friends? Would you still 'love them?'
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Is your love a Godly Love?
