It is patient love that keeps the gold smith going, because the end product is nothing compared with the raw material. Majority of the believers around you are not yet finished products and you need to recognize that and be the smith on their way
to maturity.
Several of the things you are angry with about people now will not be there in a few years, yet your attitude to them will linger. So deal with people with patience knowing their gold cometh.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up...
There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience , kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! #LovingMan
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In rounding up our discussion on love, it is important to remind you that you need to love yourself. 'You' are important.
Care for 'you', be kind to 'you' , pray for 'you', make allowance for 'you' to grow, 'you' deserve the best.
While your life cannot and should not be all about you, never forget that you matter and you can only love others to the degree that you love yourself.
And perhaps the most important way to love you is to forgive yourself. We have all made mistakes to different degrees but allowing those mistakes to dictate your future is a disservice to God.
We cannot talk about loving man without talking about forgiveness. Having done your best to walk in love with people, you will still be hurt by them one way or the other and you must forgive.
We forgive primarily because we are also recipients of God's forgiveness and he commands us to forgive others. It is worth noting also that you will have need to forgive those closest to you the more. Forgive and let it go.
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
Just as God's love was shown by giving even so will your love be shown by giving. Give to the people around you because you love them.
Give your money and resources, give your time and skills, give opportunities for growth.
Give a smile and words of encouragement. The greatest gift you can give to your world is the gospel, preach Christ to your world, their eternity depends on it.
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God's love be in that person? Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
Correction is a necessary part of love, never shy away from correcting a fellow Christian having previously instructed him/her. You are showing love by preventing a worse incident when you correct. Of course, it must be done in love.
The where and how of correction matters. Avoid public corrections except when the incident is capable of influencing others who heard or saw it. The goal is always a change of attitude not humiliation. Once you have made the correction, let it end there.
And if you are on the receiving end of a correction, receive it as a sign of love. Don't be so hung up on the way the correction came, see the lesson inherent. You can not always determine how and when you will be corrected, but you can choose to grow from the rebuke.
Can we quickly agree now that persons you trust most will offend you and do things that you least expect (a la Peter denying Christ), yes they will and that is what makes us humans.
What you can do then is to make allowance for people's faults in advance, to make excuses for them in your heart, with the understanding that we are all being perfected. Love, as scriptures says, covers a multitude of sins.
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.
In our dealings with people, kindness must always be visible. It is not sufficient to be right, we must also show kindness.
The final test before Isaac came was Abraham showing kindness to 3 strangers.
David helped a dying Egyptian and got his family and properties back (you really have no excuse to be wicked). You will often find that kindness opens more doors than your skills ever could.
They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.