JESUS IS PATIENT AND KIND ..

LOVE IS PATIENT AND KIND ... 1 Corinthians 13:4
Jesus is patient and kind. No matter how long people frustrated and disappointed, He kept right on loving them.

"O you stubborn faithless people," Jesus said [to his disciples], "how long should I put up with you? ..." Luke 9:41 (TLB) 

If the twelve apostles were stubborn, perverse and faithless, I know I also disappoint and frustrate God, yet for forty years He has been leading me on in love.

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. 

• He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. John 13:1 (NLT) 

No matter how long people abused, accused and tormented Jesus, He never stopped doing everything He could to heal their sicknesses and deliver them from demonic bondages.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. 

• Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:38 (NLT) 

Why are we often busy being Christian but we sometimes lose our appreciation of the deep love of God?

One reason is that we study and discuss so many other Christian issues and Bible themes but neglect to focus on the love of God. 

• What we study, think about, talk about, preach about or pray about is what shapes our experience. 

• Even our praise and worship can sometimes focus on something other than the LOVE of God.

God IS love.

Jesus is NOT jealous if you love your wife or your children, your hobby or your job.

This is partly true because God is a JEALOUS God who hates idolatry. He hates it when something else distracts us from enjoying HIS amazing love. 

• But in His love, He wants us to enjoy being human.

God does not want you to be focussed on your faith in such a way that your cannot relate to other human beings. 

• He was very critical of the Pharisees who allowed people to give money to God instead of giving support to their aged parents.

The JEALOUSY of God is a healthy jealousy, a loving jealousy, not the kind of selfish and insecure jealousy that sometimes ruins marriages.

If you try to be holy in a churchy or religious way, you can live in a cage of religious rules.

• Been there, done that!

If you really know the love of God, you can be incredibly free.

One religious rule is that you must not enjoy worldly music. Like many religious rules, it is partly true. 

• There is some very bad music around. Before Satan rebelled against God, he was Lucifer, the chief musician amongst the angels. 

• We must be careful what we listen to but we must not be legalistic.

Paul wrote:

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 1 Corinthians 10:23 (NKJV) 

The Holy Spirit often speaks to me by bringing some music to my mind ... and not only Christian music. 

Recently this song popped into my mind. It was a Beatles song from the 1960s but it was a love song from God to me.

“If there’s anything that you want,

If there’s anything I can do,

Just call on me and I’ll send it along

With love, from me to you.” 

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. 

It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NLT)