Love is patient and kind. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NLT)
爱 是 恒 久 忍 耐 ， 又 有 恩 慈. 13:4 ~ 歌 林 多 前 書 13:4 (CUVS)
We know what kindness is. Being kind is one way of showing love to other people. Today’s verse adds a new way: being patient. It comes from a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to a church where the people were fighting with each other a lot.
Being patient means waiting for something to happen without getting upset when it takes a long time. It also means not getting annoyed or angry when someone else doesn’t understand what you are trying to tell them. It can also mean not complaining when something is hard for us. It is hard to be patient!
One piece of good news is that we get a lot of chances to practice. Next time someone does something that makes you want to scream, it’s probably a good time to practice being patient. The next piece of good news is that we have help. Galatians 5:22 tells us that patience is a “fruit” of the Holy Spirit. That means that if we let him, the Holy Spirit will make our patience grow.
One way we can become more patient is by thinking about why the other person is acting so annoying, or why we have to wait. For example, in the picture above, the big sister is teaching the little sister to read. If she gets a word wrong over and over, the big sister could get very impatient with her. But if she understands that reading is hard for her sister, and remembers that some things are hard for her too, she won’t feel as annoyed.
Our Father, thank you that you are very patient with us when we get impatient with other people. Please help us think before we get angry, and help us understand why someone might be annoying us. Please make our patience grow, and be patient with us while it does. Amen.
Argyle Road Baptist Church 