Major points I want to make this week:
- God’s love remains the same (always).
- God’s love is ONE-SIDED!
What God’s Love Is #2: Love is Patient (ONE-SIDED) from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
(1 Cor 13:4 AMP) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
Last week I told you that verses 4 through 8 of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 contain 20 characteristics of love; and we took a look at the first one: love endures long. We learned how the love of God lasts through the ups and downs of life. This week we look at the cousin of enduring long, in the characteristic of patience.
- A while back I taught on “Faith and Patience – the Power Twins!”
- Patience is the ability to remain the same or “the force of consistency.”
- While God’s love is enduring long, it’s must also remain the same while it’s enduring.
- If you complain every step of the way, that’s not the love of God!
God’s love (patient love) is ONE-SIDED!
- Paul said of God and His love, “We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him” (Rom 5:7,8 MSG).
- Even while we ignored, disrespected, and dishonored God; He loved us enough to send His son to die for our sins.
- His love endured long and His love was patient. His love remained the same.
- His love was one-sided.
After coming to God, did God get rid of us when we missed the mark? Did God stop loving us when we failed to love Him? Did He retract His love? Did He change the way He dealt with us? Did He start treating us with a ‘ten foot pole?’ No! God’s love never changes, because His love is one-sided.
So remember:
- God’s love does not require a tit for a tat.
- God’s love empowers you to love others, even when you do not like what they are doing.
- God’s love enables you to look beyond flaws and still love the flawed.
- God’s love equips you with His consistency, even while the object of your love is inconsistent.
- God’s love is one-sided! When you operate in one-sided love, you are able to consistently love others, even while they are living inconsistent lives!
