Love Is Patient_ Spiritual Love (2)
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January 20, 2019 |
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 Rev. Jaerock Lee, Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant," 1 Corinthians 13:4
Nowadays we can truly feel that love has cooled down. Many people seek love but they don't understand what true love, namely what spiritual love is. True love can't be obtained just because we want to have it. We have to understand what it is first. Then, when we cast away evil from our heart, God's love will replace the evil, and this is how we can have spiritual love.
God has let us know specifically what spiritual love is in 1 Cor. 13:4-7. If we lack patience, which is one of the characteristics of love, we might put others in despair. For example, suppose you give a job to somebody, and if you don't get the expected results soon enough, you just give the job to somebody else. The first person then might feel miserable because they didn't get a chance to redeem themselves.
Now, what is the reason that patience comes first among the 15 traits of spiritual love in the book of 1 Corinthians? It's because it is most basic in cultivating love. Once we realize the love of God, we'd naturally try to share His love with people around us. And when we try to love others, we might face some situations where our feelings are hurt or we suffer a tremendous loss or hardship.
We might not be able to understand some people at all because their behaviors are not socially acceptable at all, not to mention they don't seem loveable at all. In order to possess spiritual love, we have to be patient and love such people as well. Even if they slander you without reason or put you in a difficult situation, you have to control your mind and still love them.
1. Patience Is the Beginning of Spiritual Love
In order to cultivate spiritual love, we need to be patient in any situation. What if we have some hard feelings while we are being patient? What if nothing changes even after being patient for a long time?
Before putting the blame on others or on the circumstances, we need to check our heart first. If we have cultivated truth in our heart, there is nothing we can't be patient about. Namely, being unable to be patient proves that we still have untruth and evil in our heart.
Being patient is bearing with ourselves and enduring all kinds of hardships that we face when we try to love. Having spiritual love means we endure all kinds of difficulties when we try to love in obedience to the Word of God.
Nowadays, people sue others very easily if other people caused even the least bit of harm to their bodies or damage to their property. Sometimes, they sue their own husbands and wives, parents, or children. Some people are considered fools if they just bear with such damage and keep quiet. But Jesus said in Matt. 5:39-40, "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also."
Do not pay back evil with evil but bear with them. Furthermore, show goodness to them. You might think how we can do that to such evil people who are causing so much damage to you, but you'll be more than able to do so if you have faith and love. This faith is faith in God who gave His only begotten Son Jesus as the propitiation for our sins. If you believe you have received such love, you will be able to forgive even those who caused great damage to you. If we love the Lord who has given us His life unsparingly, how can we not love, and how can we not be patient?
2. God Wants Limitless Patience
Some people suppress their hatred or anger and when they reach a limit they explode. Some people are very introversive and do not express themselves well, so they just keep the emotions to themselves to such an extreme degree that they get sick. Such patience is just like compressing a spring. If you take your hand off, it springs right back up.
The kind of patience that God wants is to be patient until the end without change of attitude. In a strict sense, it is patience with which you don't even have to try to be patient. It is not to suppress your hard feelings but to cast away the original evil that causes hard feelings and to have only compassion and love.
If we do not have any evil but only spiritual love in us, it is not difficult to love even our enemies, and as a matter of fact, we are not going to make any enemies in the first place.
If our heart is filled with hatred, quarreling, envy and jealousy, we will see the shortcomings of others first, even if they are good people. It's just like wearing sunglasses; everything will look dark. However, if our heart is filled with love, even those who behave oddly and act out in evil will look lovely. You don't hate them even if they are full of iniquity and bad points. Even if they hate us and act in evil toward us, we don't hate them back.
Patience is the heart of the Lord who does not break a bruised reed or put out a smoldering wick. It is the heart of Stephen who prayed for those who were stoning him to death for preaching the gospel.
The following relates a story of Peter asking Jesus a question: "Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven"" (Matt. 18:21-22). This does not mean we have to forgive 490 times. Number 7 symbolizes perfection in spiritual sense, and it stands for perfect forgiveness. We can feel the love and forgiveness of Jesus is limitless.
3. Patience for Cultivating Spiritual Love
Of course, we can't turn our hatred into spiritual love overnight. We have to try to be patient continually.
Eph. 4:26 says, "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger." Being angry tells us that one has little faith. Even if you get angry because your faith is weak, you must not harbor it until the sunset, meaning for a long time. We are apt to get angry if we are not at a higher level of faith, but as we try to be patient and try unceasingly, our heart will turn into heart of truth and spiritual love will grow in us.
The sinful natures that are deeply rooted in our heart can be thrown away when we pray fervently with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We also need to see with the eyes of love even those who we hate. We need to try to show goodness to them.
As we keep on trying this way, we will soon realize that hatred has disappeared from our heart and we are able to love them. We won't have any conflict with or hate anybody, and thus, we will be happy as if we were in heaven.
People often say it is like heaven when they are very happy. Having heaven in our heart means our heart is free of untruths and it is only filled with goodness and love. If this is the case, we don't have to try to be patient about anything. We will just love everyone, so we will always be joyful and happy. The more you're free of evil in your heart, the less you'd have to try to be patient. If you have cultivated spiritual love, you don't try to be patient, but in peace you can just wait for others to be changed.
In heaven there is only goodness and love. There is no hatred or anger there. You won't have to suppress anything or any feelings at all there. Therefore, God has nothing to be patient about because He is love itself. Still He says love is patient. It's because it is how we can understand spiritual love and cultivate it.
Dear Brothers and sisters,
God wants even the evil ones to be changed, and He is patient with them. Let us realize His love, become patient like Him, and cultivate spiritual love so that we can be full of happiness and joy on this earth as well as in the kingdom of heaven, I pray this in the name of the Lord!
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