1 Corinthians 13:4 AMP
[4] Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant.
The message in the entire chapter from where the verse above is taken focuses on the idea and concept of love. The chapter lays out what love is, and what it is not; what it looks like, as well as what it does not look like. In fact, at the very start of the chapter, it quickly debunks the usual and human nature of hypocrisy and eye-service, where men are able to deceive others with outward show and no iota of heart connection. We are masters in the art of deceit and deception, able to present a face to the public, while able to hold on to the opposite in private. This chapter seeks to remind us about the dangers of such falsehood, and lays out God's expectations for all who know and follow Him. As always, God does not leave us in doubt as to what He desires from us; we need to make up our minds how we intend to respond.
If you expect a free pass when it comes to love, think again. If I am praying to God for patience, would He just drop it in my life with no strings attached, or would He bring me through situations that will teach me patience? One quick way to learn patience is by the relationships we must have with other people. No man is an island; either by work or by family interactions, there are relationships to be initiated, nurtured and sometimes, as hard as it may sound, ended. Some people can push me to be the worst version of myself by pricking me to anger at every turn, yet God seeks to remind me that who lives in me must be made manifest at all times. It must not be that the external is so powerful that it can regulate the inside. It is my inner man, taken over by the Prince of Peace, and the author of salvation, that should regulate my thinking, action and reaction to people and events around me.
Check out the attributes of love in the verse above: patient, serene, kind, thoughtful, not jealous or envious, does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. This is an audit of my life to determine where I stand on the attributes listed here. As God will have it, it is a personal race, not a cooperative union. It must start with my own personal commitment to allow God live in and express Himself through me. If I have Him, and allow Him to live in and through me, it becomes easier to live up to the attributes listed here. If I am truthful, and can still see signs of pride, arrogance or envy in my life, it is time to really seek God's face for help to deal with them before it is too late. Remember: it is God's view that counts, not man's. Both love and pride cannot peacefully co-exist in the same vessel, because both of them flow from different sources, and are headed in different eternal destinations. If I want to end up with Christ, I have to look, talk, act and relate like Him. His help is available at all times. God's time of favour is here.
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