Love suffers long and is kind

Love  suffers long (patient), love is kind – I cor 13:4a

Love suffers long means being patient, and not being quick to anger, or in a hurry to judge or give up on others.  It is patient with those who need to grow. When you know that all your loved one needs is time to grow, and be better, love will make you patient enough to be accommodating through their process of growth and mistakes. It is patient with the imperfections of others, which means that even when all you want to do is strangle them, you will know and understand them because you will recognise that we are all different and not the same so you won’t expect them to be perfect, or make no mistakes.  It also means that even though common sense tells you that it should be done with process ‘A’ and the person is going towards process ‘B’, you will still be patient with them and not give up on them.

Being principled is not an excuse to be mean and impatient with the imperfections of others. Principles do not state that you should be unyielding or lack understanding or patience towards others.  A principled person who shows no compassion or patience towards others is just a dictator.

It means that when others don’t understand you or vice versa, you will be patient with them and help them understand.

Love is kind, means that your words will be sweet and you will not be rude towards others.  Rudeness can cut down a person’s spirit and destroy them.  That is why the bible advices us to be wise with our words and that a harsh tongue brings destruction.  It means your words will put a smile on peoples faces and bring them hope.  Kindness will open doors that were tightly shut. Kindness will influence people positively.

A story is told of a preacher who lost his daughter to the world.  Every night when she came home drunk, the father would be waiting for her and they would usually have a long and nasty argument that would leave both of them hurt and more estranged.

One day another preacher advised this hurting father to try being patient in love and to show his daughter kindness.  So that night when the daughter came home drunk and armed for war, the father met her at the door with a big smile and a hug and an offer of coffee.  She shoved the dad away and stormed to her room.  Nonetheless the father did not give up and night after night he showed patience and kindness to the daughter.

One Friday night, the father kept waiting for the daughter to go out, but she stayed in her room and didn’t step out, same thing happened on Saturday.  Sunday morning the father woke up to go to church and saw the daughter in the living room, waiting all dressed up for church!  She never went back to clubbing or drinking again and is now one of the strong pillars in her father’s church.

Where everything else failed, love stood.  With the patience and kindness of love, the father achieved what prayer, fasting, arguments, and preaching couldn’t do. I love praying, fasting, and preaching, and I encourage it all the time, but sometimes, it is not how much you preach, it is how much you show what you preach that makes the difference. God is love, his message is love, let our lives show the love of Christ in us.


Written by Aba Dadson


WHAT IS NEXT?