Love...Is Patient

I admit that this has been long overdue and I felt especially inspired tonight so I'm gonna start this new series on the attributes of love, as displayed in 1 Cor. 13. The first one listed is that love is patient.

The first thing that comes to mind is the world's view of "love" as being sexual relations and people saying "If you really love me, you will ____" - fill in the blank. First of all, if you are putting requirements on love, it's not true love anyway. But speaking about sexual issues, some reasoning behind having sex is that the two people "love" each other, so it's only natural. But TRUE LOVE is patient. It is patient enough to obey the Bible in keeping that for the marriage bed. It is patient enough to not lose your "emotional virginity" as well. You may be wondering exactly what I mean by that bizarre phrase. Well I'm glad you asked. By that I mean sharing too much with your significant other too fast. You do not want to share everything and become more of one unit than God intended. Up until marriage, you are two people with two different fleshes, emotions, and separate everything. Only under the covenant of marriage are you truly to be joined as one unit in everything. Relying solely on that other person, when not under this covenant, is unhealthy and wrong. And as I said before having sex before marriage is also very unhealthy (the only sin you sin against your own body) and very wrong.

Another aspect of the patience of love is just being patient and waiting for that other person in pretty much everything. (This is a lot more applicable to guys since they tend to be waiting for girls more. But this message can be taken to girls as well.) Love waits for that perfect girl who just got out of a relationship and isn't ready to date. Love waits while that girl takes three hours to get ready and is subsequently half an hour late to your first date. Love waits through the ups and downs that define your relationship. Love waits beside your significant other with a hand to hold her as she deals with the death of a loved one or financial instability or any other plethora of hardships. Love waits forever. If she truly is the perfect girl, she is worth the wait. She is not going to give herself to you until she is sure you are truly the man you say you are. And if you cannot handle the wait, then you are NOT the man you say you are. Love is Patient.

The next time you are running through your busy day, wanting to hurry everything up, don't hurry her and don't hurry the Lord. Just remember, "Love is Patient". This may save you some heartache and is a very important true lesson to remember.

Sincerely yours,

Greg