The Bible says that love is patient and love is kind. We are called to love people in this way but why is that so hard to do? The key is in receiving. This Bible study focuses on how to receive love from God and how to share it with others.

Hello, you guys! Welcome to part 2 of our love series Overflow. If you missed our first post you can check it out here: The Key To Loving Others The Way Christ Calls Us To

Just to summarize, we are taking a long and hard look at what the Bible says love is and does. We know that we are called to love others but we believe that we are not capable of doing that well and consistently unless we have a larger source pouring into us first.

Jesus confirms this in John 13:34 when He says,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

We believe the key to loving others well and living a life filled with love is to live with a constantly receiving God's love which He is lavishing on us at all times. We have to live aware of just how crazy God is for us! So that is why we are looking a good long look at love. Not just so you can go love others but so that you can rest confidently in the Truth that you are love unconditionally beyond all comprehension.

The passage we will be looking at is the great love chapter! 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV

Today we will look at the first two things that love is.

Love Is Patient

The very first thing that love is is patient. This may be my favorite aspect of love. It’s patient. This is the idea that love suffers long. If love is patient that means that it is able and willing to endure. Patience enables us to withstand anger and angry outbursts. Patience makes love strategic. It shows that it isn’t driven by emotions. It is not going to fly off the handle.

Love is patient. It works with you. It doesn’t give up and walk away when you and your life start to get messy. It doesn’t get fed up with you when you have yet another sassy attitude kind of day. Love is patient. God is patient. Peter tells us so.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

When you think of the Lord do you think of Him as being patient with you? I have to admit that for years when I thought of the Lord I envisioned an angry God who was prone to severe apathy. I just thought He didn’t care. That is until I messed up, as I have a reputation for doing. Then He would be angry, but not even in a lash out and drop a plague or a bolt of lightning kind of way. I imagined He’d give me the silent treatment. Wash His hands of me and turn His back.

That is such a lie. We have a Father who loves us and who is patient. You have to know this because life is gonna throw curve balls. You are going to drop the ball and miss the mark and you need to know the truth about how God responds to us!

Mike & I suffered a loss about a year ago and it left us both heartbroken. I remember we were in a worship service with all of our friends and “Great Are You Lord” by All Sons & Daughters was being sung. It was one of those moments where you know that the presence of God is in the room and everyone was crying out and worshipping. It was a beautiful moment. One of those moments where you get a peeks of what Heaven might feel like.

A line in the song says, “You heal every heart that’s broken.” As soon as I heard that line I heard the Lord tell me that He would heal my heart. I remember feeling my heartache and sadness turn to pure anger and I sat down and said no to God. The last year has been filled with ups and downs and a whole lot of me being totally rebellious towards God. I was depressed and I felt alone and that had been my choice.

Here’s the thing, God could have honored my decision. He could have just left me to live the rest of my days wallowing in the pain and heartache of a loss that He never decided to subject me to. He could have lost patience with me over the last year and stopped showering me with His kindness and love. He could have stopped drawing me back to Him, but He didn’t.

He never stopped. He has been chasing me all my life. He has been chasing you all of yours. He is patient with us. He is kind to us.

Love Is Kind

Luke 6:35 tells us “… He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” I think ungrateful and evil would sum up my attitude towards Him over the course of that last year. Yet He still shows us kindness.

Kindness has the idea of being useful. Love is kind, so love seeks to be useful. It looks for opportunities to do good for those it cares about. This is how God treats us right?

I spent a year angry at Him yet He showed me patience and He continued to show me kindness. He still allowed me to experience His goodness and love. I had some great times and things happen in the last year. I can thank God for this because we know that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” (James 1:17)

God is kind. God looks for ways to be useful to us. He cares about our day to day. He cares about the things that you care about no matter how small or tedious. He wants to be a part of every moment of every day of our lives no matter how boring or messy they may be. He cares because to His very core He is kind and He wants opportunities to be kind to you.

He is patient with us AND He is always seeking opportunities to be good to us and to show us His kindness. This needs to be meditated on. Think up a list of all the times you know God has been patient with you. List all the times He showed you kindness when you knew you did nothing to earn such goodness from Him. Think of all the things that He has forgiven you for. Think of how deep and how great His love for you is. Think about it and chose to believe it. Believe that He is patient and kind to you. Receive that Truth and then watch it just overflow right out of you and into the lives of those around you.

Overflow

That’s the key. If you are not patient or if no one would use the word “kind” to describe you, it is because you are not living with a big enough revelation or understanding of just how patient and kind God is with you.

We know this from the Bible passage I shared in part 1 of Overflow. Luke 7:47. Jesus speaks of the woman with the bad reputation who just crashed a party she wasn't invited to filled in front of tons of religious people just so she could throw herself at Jesus' feet and pour out her love upon His feet. In reference to her outlandish demonstration of love He tells us that “her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Jesus also commands in John 13:34 that we “…love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” We are told to love other just as He has loved us! Romans 15:7 tells us to “accept each other just as Christ has accepted you”

You are accepted. You are wanted. You are pursued. You are loved. God is not angry with you. God is not disappointed in you. God will never regret His decision to choose you. He is not frightened by your mistakes and shortcomings. He is patient with you. He has oodles and oodles of kindness to lavish upon you. He is for you. He cares about the things that matter to you. He loves you.

Resting in those truths is the only way to become truly patient with difficult people and to have the kindness to just throw around like confetti.

I hope these Truths settle in your soul and shake loose any lies that are hidden within you that are contrary. I pray this Truth excited and revives you and your household like it is doing for me and mine. I hope it sets a fire in you that will grow and spread. I would love to hear from you and discuss this topic further. You can leave a comment below or shoot me a message on any of the many social places I reside.

I do hope that you will take a moment to share this with your friends and followers. This is a message that I am passionate about so the more eyes we can get on this the better. I wanna see this fire spread. If you know anyone who could use a reminder of how loved they are consider shooting them this reminder.

Remember this is just part two of the series! You can check out part one Overflow: The Key To Loving Others here. Make sure that you are a member of our Living For Love Community to stay in the know. I send out weekly doses of encouragement with updates of the posts that go live each week. I am pretty excited about this series so seriously, you want to jump on this!