WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
2 Peter 3:9

“Charity suffereth long.”

WHAT IS LOVE? (I)

The word “love” in 1 Corinthians 13 is agapē. It stands in contrast with eros which is about lust and passion, or philia which is about love between brothers or friends. Agapē is often used in the Scripture in relation with God’s love. “It is love in its purest sense” (Khoo).

Why then did the King James translators render this term “charity”? It is because true agapē will be manifested in action. This principle is taught by John in 1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

Since love must be the motive for our service, it behoves us to understand the many facets of love.

The first description of love is that of longsuffering (1 Cor 13:4). This term, makrothumei, is often used to describe patience with difficult people. When a longsuffering man is wronged, he will not strive to avenge himself even though he has the right and power to do it. The best example of longsuffering is our Lord Himself. Is He not longsuffering with the world, not willing that any should perish, but for all to come unto salvation (2 Pet 3:9)? When we were still in our sin, could not the Lord have struck us down and destroyed us? Yet the Lord is patient and woos us by His love, so that we can be saved from darkness and translated into His Kingdom of light.

Another good example of longsuffering is Moses. Observe how patient he was with a people that was often murmuring and complaining. He had to bear with their idiosyncrasies and hardness of heart for forty long years in the wilderness. Yet the Scriptures account him a faithful servant in God’s house. So must we also be longsuffering with our brethren if we are to live constrained by the love of Christ.

THOUGHT: A longsuffering man does not retaliate.
PRAYER: Father, help me to be longsuffering with others.