Learning to love others as Jesus loved us is a lifelong adventure. No one comes to a point where they don't need to learn more. But your lifelong education can get a good start by studying the thirteenth chapter of Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
DAY 1
1 Corinthians 13:4a
Charity suffereth long, (KJV)
Love suffers long (NKJV)
When you learn to love you will be more:
| accepting | easy |
| forbearing | indulgent |
| merciful | patient |
| restrained | sympathetic |
| tolerant |
- The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
- the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7
| Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, {7} "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, | Can you be more holy than God?
Can you be more merciful than God? What keeps you from being more loving? |
| Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins. | Do you bring up other people's faults? |
| Proverbs 17:9 He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends. | When you find out about someone else's faults, do you guard their reputation, or do you use the information as a weapon against them? |
| 2 Corinthians 6:6 In all things we commend ourselves as servants of God, by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, | Do you show yourself to be a servant of God, or as a tyrant over others? |
| Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, | Do you claim to be born again by the Spirit? Do you show the fruit of this in your life? |
| Ephesians 4:2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, | Are you a lowly servant of others, like Christ, or are you some Mr. Big who should be "respected" by everyone else? |
| Colossians 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; | Are you "strong" because you're a "tough" guy and lose your temper easily and no one wants to mess with you, or are you strong because you can patiently endure the sins of others because you meekly submit to the Source of all Power? |
| Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; | Are you among the elect of God? Have you put on patience? |
| 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. | Do you agree that God requires you to distance yourself from those who are unruly, and not to join them?
Do you agree that God requires you to develop skills of comforting and supporting others? Do you agree that God requires you to be patient with others, even your enemy? Do you know that God loves to give these gifts freely and abundantly? (James 1:5) Do you regularly ask God for these good habits, or have you developed the habit of "surviving" by being the "fittest"? |
| 2 Timothy 2:10,25 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. {25} in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, | Are you willing to endure all things so that others might be saved?
Do you correct others as a bossy know-it-all, or as someone God has sent to serve them, and help them become more like Christ? |
| 2 Timothy 3:10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, | Do people think of you as a loving, longsuffering person? Do you have any followers, people who are influenced by the life you lead? |
| 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
"Exhort": G3870. parakaleo, par-ak-al-eh'-o; from G3844, near, alongside, and G2564, bid, call; to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation):--beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort (-ation), intreat, pray. |
When others make errors, do you patiently invite them to walk alongside you, or do you order them and condemn them, as if from high above? |
| James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. | Are you like Stephen, who patiently entreated those who were about to kill him? |
| 1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." | Are you worried that no one loves you, or are you more worried that someone needs your love? |
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
| Man's law, a code of vengeance and "national security," is an expression of the quest of the unregenerated heart for instant gratification. |
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. |
| When our neighbor (across the street or across the world) irritates us or frustrates our desire to "be as gods,"[74] "law" (as man calls it) stands ready to incarnate our lust for vengeance. The pound of flesh is extracted, the enemy is destroyed. |
Genesis 3:4-5 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: |
| And the prophets of the State are only too willing for us to believe that the earthy Scriptures of the Old Testament are also rooted in vengeance, and that the message of the Old Testament is in conflict with the message of the New Testament. This (misinterpreted) message of the Old Testament is thus made the basis for the institutionalization of human vengeance (the State), while the (misinterpreted) message of the New Testament is relegated to personal pieties which cannot "realistically" be applied to the work-day world. How convenient. | (1 Peter 2:9) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal ["state"] priesthood ["church"], an holy ["church"] nation ["state"], God's own people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: |
| The word "longsuffering" occurs only four times in the Old Testament, and in all cases it is God, not man, who is longsuffering. | Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
Numbers 14:18 'The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.' Psalms 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. Jeremiah 15:15 O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. |
| Can it be that man in the Older Testament didn't have to worry about being longsuffering? Nonsense! The very fact that God is longsuffering is precisely the reason we are to be longsuffering. The Apostle Peter tells us, | "As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written [Leviticus 11:44] 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:15-16). |
| By telling us that God is longsuffering, the Bible (God's Law) is actually commanding us to be the same! Paul says that the very reason we are shown mercy through Jesus Christ is so that | "Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in Him." (1 Timothy 1:16 |
| The word "longsuffering" is actually two words, and means "long of anger," i.e., long before getting angry. The thought is that God takes a long, deep breath as He holds His anger in abeyance. | Have you tried taking a deep breath and pausing for a few seconds before saying anything in anger? |
| As we know, there is a righteous limit to God's patience, and it is understandable for man to be angry.
2 Samuel 12:5 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! Fequently, however, we are not angered because God's Law has been violated (unless it was against us); we are angry because our own standards have crossed. |
The key is to "be angry and sin not" Ephesians 4:26, quoting Psalm 4:4). But the verse goes on to say "let not the sun go down on your anger," Which means that when someone causes us to be angry, we are to go promptly to them and resolve the source of anger (Matthew 18:15ff.). If they will not repent, we forgive, separate, and leave vengeance to God. In this way, we "put away all anger" (Ephesians 4:31-32). |
| But because God holds His anger, we are to do the same. | Proverbs 29:8 Scoffers set a city aflame, But wise men turn away wrath. |
| It is the wicked who lose their temper, not the Godly. | Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy? Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirs up strife, And a furious man abounds in transgression. |
| The Greek word for longsuffering (which also means "great breath") is found in the Greek Old Testament which was used by our Lord and the Apostles. It commands us to be longsuffering. | Proverbs 14:29 He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly. Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention. Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Proverbs 17:27 He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. |
| The New American Standard Version translates "longsuffering" as "patience." Does the Old Testament command patience? Of course it does! | "Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit." Ecclesiastes 7:8 |
| Just as the Lord is slow to anger, we also should be slow to anger | Proverbs 14:29 He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly. Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention. Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression. |
| Would Christians sue each other in secular courts if they were obedient to God's Law and suffered long the sins of others? | 1 Corinthians 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? |
| Christ, "Though he were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8) | The Old World Order was not built in a day. Neither will it be overthrown in a day. We will not have the patience to see its downfall, and will continue to be oppressed by it, if we cannot endure with longsuffering those people God brings into our everyday lives. |
| Shouldn't the Christian be obeying God's Law? | |
Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. {9} For this,
- Thou shalt not commit adultery,
- Thou shalt not kill,
- Thou shalt not steal,
- Thou shalt not bear false witness,
- Thou shalt not covet;
- and if there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
- Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
{10} Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
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Vine & Fig Tree |