Love Is Patient

The internet dictionary’s definition of love is: “an intense feeling or deep affection” and “to feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone).” Love is a “feeling” and is connected to romance and sex. How shallow! By that definition, love is momentary, comes and goes, and is inherently selfish. When most people watch movies or dramas that are excessively about romance or sex, the people watching usually aren’t thinking selfless thoughts or feeling motivated to go out and bless others. Rather many people feel desires to want what is happening in the movies and the dramas. They want to experience that “love.” And the more people dwell upon that “love,” the more selfishness and demands in relationships increase.

1Corinthians 13 is known as the chapter of love in the Bible. It’s a beautifully written chapter that includes a long description of what love is, and it starts with, “Love is patient.” This word “love” in the original Greek translation is “agape,” which is a love that gives itself completely with no thought of anything in return. Agape is hard to find in any Greek literature (which mostly refers to love as eros, which is sexual love, or phileo, which is brotherly/friendly love), yet it is one of the most common words in the New Testament. Love in the Bible goes completely against the love preached in society. Love is meant to be patient, enduring, long-suffering. Love is meant to be selfless. There isn’t meant to be any selfish gain in love.

I’ve been serving at Geon Children’s Home for over 10 years now. I’ve seen so many kids come and go now and I’ve experienced many highs and lows, with some of the lows being very low and heavy. But by God’s love working in me I’ve been able to continue to serve at the home with a firm hope and a genuine smile. I recognize if I were living by the world’s definition of love I would have given up within my first year. It was God’s love that gave me the grace to remain patient and to keep caring for the kids.

I’ve been married to Sky for nearly five years now. We’ve experienced a number of highs and lows together. The highs have far outnumbered the lows, but the lows haven’t been easy. But by God’s love working in us we have been able to work all tough things out and have only grown stronger. It’s often been our own selfishness/unspoken demands that have created conflict, and it’s been God’s love that has helped us get through it, apologize, and build each other up.

Love is patient. The best marriages are grounded upon patience and trust. Even when one spouse has bad moments or goes through a tough stretch, the other spouse keeps calm and steadfast. Feelings are momentary and fleeting. Patience is enduring. True love is based upon a holy, eternal God who died for us. His love never fails, never dies, and never ends. His love is a love to live by. So don’t let the media or society trip you up into pursuing selfish feelings or desires. Set your heart on God and experience a love that truly satisfies and a love that will enable you to endure all things. Nothing can compare!