16 Characteristics of the God-Kind of Love - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8ਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 1 – Love suffers long

Imagine someone promised to deliver a gift to you within a specific time frame, but delays for days. How does it feel? Quite disappointing. Right? Meanwhile, you’d have to be patient enough for the person to deliver it at a later date. However, within that waiting period, you begin to have expectations of what you want to receive day after day. That is called long-suffering and can also be interpreted as a form of patience.

When scripture says love suffers long (or the New International Version says “love is patient”), it means love is able to bear people’s faults for a long time without giving up. That is what God has used primarily to run this world. If He were impatient with us, with all the sins going on, He would have wiped out humanity from the Earth a long time ago. He was patient enough to see you live a wayward life for many years till you got saved. And guess what? His compassions never fail because they are new every morning (see Lamentations 3:22-23).

If you claim to love someone the God-way, you must embrace long-suffering/patience. You must be able to hold on to your burning sexual desire during your courtship moments until you get married. You must be patient and keep praying that a character flaw will be corrected by the Lord for your partner (because only God can really change people for the better). Have a “no give up” mentality when it comes to demonstrating God’s love, no matter how stubborn the receiver is.