Love is kind

'If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient and kind.' 1 Corinthians 13 v 1 – 4

I used to find this passage challenging and discouraging. I didn't understand why people talked about it as the 'great' chapter on love. I saw it as a list of all the ways I failed to match up to God's standard.  

The first three verses indicate that I can be doing really well and working really hard for God - even giving away all my money and possessions and becoming a martyr - and yet it can still all count for nothing if I don't get the love bit right. 

I was reading this passage recently and got as far as 'Love is patient and kind' and stopped and closed my Bible. My prayer was something along the lines of "God I can't take any more. I can't read the rest of this passage. I have lost my temper with the children so much. I can't even manage 'patient and kind' let alone the rest of the list.  Please help me be patient and kind today. Can you just let me work on those two today?"

Then God spoke to me so tenderly, "This is a description of my love for you. I am kind to you. I am patient with you.  Will you be kind to yourself and patient with yourself? Let yourself receive my love, believe in my kindness to you and my patience with you.  When you truly grasp how much and how well I love you and let it fill your heart, then this kind of love, my love will flow out from you. You won't have to drum it up with loads of effort, it will be your natural response."

Wow, what encouragement and freedom to now love this passage. I can now read it as an incredible description of how I am loved by my Heavenly Father. He doesn't want me to be so hard on myself. He doesn't expect me to be able to love like that out of my own resources. He desires to fill my heart with his inexhaustible love and to see me dance for joy in His presence because I'm so loved. 

Thank you Father for helping me see this passage with new eyes. Thank you for your incredible love. May I keep growing in grasping how fully I am loved and may Your love pour out through me to help others know your love. Amen.