Patient and Kind…

We are more than halfway through February! Where has the time gone?

As it is the month of lovvveee, the next succession of blog posts will focus on love in accordance with 1 Corinthians 13. The first two demonstrations of love that need exploring are patience and kindness.

1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

Patience and kindness are two attributes that we definitely have to learn. It’s rare to come across someone who has a natural inclination towards these traits but our character can be shaped and moulded to ensure that we better reflect Christ; Christ who is definitely patient and kind.

Patience

Have you ever sat back and just observed a small child who wants something they can’t have immediately? It can be comical but there’s certainly a lesson that can be learnt each time you sit back and watch in quiet contemplation. Say, for example, the child wants a piece of food that they aren’t allowed to eat yet. You know and I know that even though the food is good, it can be harmful to that child so you keep it from them. Why? Because you love them enough that your desire to protect them trumps any desire to help them get what they want.

However, the child doesn’t know this. They see the food, they see you eating it and they want some. Now. As a result, they will reach out, try to grab it from you and basically do everything in their power to try and get it from you. Due to your wisdom and desire to protect them you gently let them know they can’t have it: ‘Not yet darling, one day you can have this but not now…’. Now, wouldn’t it be lovely if the small child then said ‘Okay.’ and continued to find something else to do. Ha! What usually happens in that moment is the complete opposite! They will continue to reach out and try to grab the food until you either eat it or hide it from their view. And so the process of patience begins to be learnt…

That is much like us in adult life, learning how to depend on God and understanding that there is a time and season for everything.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

Patience does not mean being stagnant. It means waiting on the Lord and trusting that if God says to wait, there is always a reason for it. Something to ask yourself in the moments of waiting is: Lord, what do I need to learn? It’s also an opportunity to just rest before God and find joy in waiting for Him and the anticipation of His ‘yes’, whenever that might be.

Kindness

Kindness is a trait that we all have and something that we can willingly exercise. It is a beautiful personality trait and, more often than not, the sweetest people to encounter are those who are unashamedly kind to others. A kind and gentle heart often radiates with beauty. You can tell when kindness is on someone’s heart because of the actions they do, the Bible tells us that everything we do flows from the heart.

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Another important element with regards to kindness is being able to love others as you love yourself. Therefore, we should really understand what it means to love ourselves; not in a puffed up, conceited kind of way but in a God, who is love, created me therefore I love His creation kind of way.

The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself [Matthew 22:39]. That means extending kindness, patience and grace to yourself in order to be able to extend that to others. If loving yourself includes being kind and patient then we should seek to also show these things to ourselves, knowing that God gives us the strength and ability to do so. Before we can even begin to love others, we really should explore what it means to love. The greatest example that we have of love is God Himself!

John 15:12 & 13 - 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has non one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

When we explore the life of Jesus, it is evident how He showed unlimited and true love to all of the people He encountered.

Jesus was often asked why He spent His time with those who were deemed as outcasts in society.

Matthew 9:11,12 & 13 - 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

His kindness and love was not limited to those who were seen as “acceptable” in society, but for everyone. True kindness is showing the love of Christ to everyone, being salt and light in all places and watching in great admiration as God changes the lives of those around you.

When we think about love, we need to understand that God first loved us. We can marvel and bask in joy at the fact that God’s love for us is unconditional and everlasting. It is because of the love that Christ has for us that we can love everyone that we come across.

This doesn’t mean that it will be easy to love everyone that you encounter but we certainly are called to. Even when you’re driving and people decide to act crazy on the road (Lord, we pray for all drivers), yes, yes we are called to be patient and kind in those moments too. To truly be salt and light, we have to look and behave differently to the world. Where the world might grumble and complain about those people who may be trickier to deal with (in our own strength), we can call on the Lord to help us to be patient and kind so that we can really be a representative for the love of Christ.