Thursday 13 June 2019

Love suffers long

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, - 1 Corinthains 13.4

‘Love suffers long.’ Because of the older meaning of that word some might sadly think something like ‘boy it sure does suffer.’ Joking here, of course, but I still like that old word ‘suffer.’

The word means to allow and put up with and permit to happen. God’s love, the kind of true loave we are talking about here is a ‘putupable’ kind of love.

When we love we learn to overlook flaws and quirks and making mistakes. It puts up with setbacks and temperment and personality differences. Love tolerates differences of opinion and unintended offences and forgiven offences. It puts up with different political views and ideas. It puts up with cultural differences and international diversity.

What that means is that we stop insisting on our way. We don’t expect everyone to fall in love with our ideas or opinions.

In our homes love suffers toilet roll being on the wrong way. It suffers our spouses little irritating traits. It tolerates all the stuff that too often develops inot fights and division. It tolerates the silly squabbles that can wreck a marriage.

Do I love people enough to put up with things that I may not like or prefer or desire.

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