Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'( Matthew 22:37-40)
Everything that we do is founded on love. I’ve been learning about leadership and I am realizing that you can’t lead people unless you love them. When you love them, you’ll do that which works for their best interest. If people love you, they give you their best… withholding nothing. Ministry is founded on love, people need to know that we care enough for them as individuals, beyond their gifts or even what they bring to the table.
Most of the problems affecting the world today would be resolved if only we chose love. For instance, if people in positions of influence cared enough about the people they lead, they wouldn’t loot public resources. Instead, they’d seek to protect the rights of the people they lead and provide the best services for these people. If we loved people enough, we wouldn’t kill; rather, we’d protect the right to life for each one of us.
I’ve taken quite some time to reflect on matters love over this month as I sought to really understand what it is about. I realize that love is a word we so often use but don’t truly understand the weight in that word. Now, God is love and if I am going to truly understand what it is to love, I will have to learn from He who is love.
I’m inviting you to walk with me as I share what I am learning on this very important matter.
The word of God teaches us what we need to know. It’s a manual for leading a godly life while we await the second coming of Jesus. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about love. He listed each of the attributes that communicate love. He wrote:
1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
As I read through this epistle, I kept asking: I’m I patient? I’m I kind? Do I envy?
Patience is an attribute of love. The dictionary defines patience as: (i) Good natured tolerance of delay or incompetence and (ii) A delay in enforcing rights, claims or privileges; refraining from acting. In the past, God demonstrated His patience, as He still is in our present day. The Bible in 2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. It is out of love that God withholds the promised judgement waiting for everyone to come to repentance. Knowing ourselves as deeply sinful goes hand in hand with knowing God as supremely patient. Realizing His perfect patience frees us; finding Jesus to be even more patient than we are sinful enables us to genuinely own our wickedness.
When we are patient with people, we allow room for growth. We understand that people are not perfect and every once in a while they will fall short of our expectations but every time that happens, we choose to overlook their shortcomings. Rather, we choose to walk with them without judging. We choose to equip them so they may grow; we speak life over them.
Teaching a child can be a good classroom for learning patience. Think about when you were learning how to write. With absolutely no prior experience in writing, you had to be taught how to hold a pencil and write. I can bet you didn’t master that in one class… You most probably did it wrong countless times until you finally got it right. Through it all, the teacher didn’t give up on you. The same thing with learning how to read.
Any process takes time and it requires of us to be very patient. At times we need to be patient with ourselves as we go through various phases in life. We need to allow ourselves room to make mistakes and not beat ourselves about it because we are looking at the bigger picture of learning and growing. At other times we’ll need to be patient with other people, according them the very level of patience we allow ourselves.
Impatience grows in the soil of our soul’s insecurity and unrest. Patience reveals true power. I hope and pray that we will learn and most importantly practice patience as we deal with other people.
With lots of love,
Quintessence
