When You Are Nothing (3)

1 Corinthians 13:1–8 &13;

John 15:13;

1 John 4:18;

Romans 13:8;

Galatians 5:13 &

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1 John 4:7

You have no right. And I am going to report you to a human rights organisation that you are tormenting people here.

I am pregnant, period!” I was just looking at her. Anyone who does not wish to be insulted should not become a pastor. Pastors are always insulted by people.

So , I kept looking at them. But I noticed that the pastors around me were getting angry.”Why are you talking to our GO like that?” So,  I turned to them and said, “But she is not talking to you now. It is me and her alone.”

So , she talked and talked, and I did not answer. The same person who talked and talked and saw I was not responding now started crying. I was still staring at her. The anger did not upset me, just as the crying did not upset me.

So people will insult you, and whatever they have done to you, they have done worse to Jesus. They called Jesus a madman. They said, “Why are you listening to him? He is a mad man.”

A person who has the power to say “All of you saying I am mad, be roasted.” But he was just looking at them. At a stage, they said Jesus was demon-possessed. But Jesus had patience.

Love is not judgmental in rushing to judge someone based on assumptions, expectations, or rumours.

As a believer, do not join anyone in rushing to judgement against anybody when you do not even have the truth. Perfect love does not hastily retaliate. 

Perfect love does not say, ”You do not know me. I am a green snake in the green grass. When I strike, you will see.”

That is not love; that is hatred. Perfect love does not promptly punish because, under the virtue of character, which is patience, love exhibits self-restraint in the face of provocation. And when patience is there, it does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

So, to be patient is to be long-tempered.

Prayer

Can you close your eyes where you are and tell the Lord that that perfect love of Christ should manifest itself in your heart.

All the “I am sorry, I will not put up with that”is not love; putting up with bad treatment is love. Calmly handling or receiving injuries from others is love. Not getting angry, vengeful, or spiteful when offended is love.

Somebody is taking advantage of you, and the fact that you are not getting angry is an exhibition of love. When you are made to wait for someone who moves at a slower pace, you wait. Patience waits.

Patience does not strike back after being insulted. You see, with this virtue of patience alone, a lot of marital problems are over.

Patience is refusing to pay back evil for evil. You do not give your wife the silent treatment. It is amazing that people are living in the same house after one month of not talking.

The wife serves the man food, and the man will put a note on the food: ”Sorry, I am not eating today.”No talk.

And this is a serious matter. Do not give your spouse the silent treatment. So true love is patient, long suffering, and not retaliating. 

Iread a story years ago. There used to be an American president called Abraham Lincoln. There used to be another man called Edwin Startin. 

Edwin Startin was always mocking Abraham Lincoln. He would write articles and call him a clown. In fact, he called him the original gorilla.

He said that it is ridiculous to be looking for gorillas in Africa when we can find Abraham Lincoln in America. He poured insults at Lincoln.

But there was a time when Lincoln needed a secretary. Lincoln appointed this man, who was calling him a gorilla, as secretary.

By the time Lincoln died, this man wrote a tribute to the person he was calling a gorilla. He wrote* _”There lies the greatest ruler of men.”

I worked in a place some years ago, and I worked under a boss who did not like me at all. And he did not hide it, he was always harassing me at work.But the Bible teaches us not to be fighting and talking back at people.

Then something happened. I was to go to France for a scientific meeting. He too, was to go to France for a scientific meeting.

Because he did not like me, he did not tell me he was going. But I knew he was going. So I got to France before him.

A day after I got there, there was a riot. There were strikes. Trains were not moving, and the whole place was down. So those who travelled there that day were in trouble.

There was nothing to pick them up from the airport; buses were not moving, and I knew that this my boss was coming. He, too, was visiting France for the first time.