Love is Patient. Love is Kind. Bible Verses on Love: 1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient. Love is kind.

This verse from 1Corinthians 13 might seem like an impossible standard to meet. After all, how can we give up our annoying habits? Be considerate and thoughtful of others so much of the time. If you struggled with this too, don’t despair.

Cultivating a Christ centered love requires intentionality. You won’t become more loving by accident, it takes effort.

Read on for some practical advice on the Christian virtues of patience and kindness so that you can pursue real love in your own life.

Be patient with yourself and others.

When we’re impatient, we expect ourselves and others to be perfect all the time. We get frustrated when other people don’t meet our standards. And we’re unforgiving our own shortcomings.

Impatience is a form of perfectionism. We expect ourselves to be perfect, but also demand that others be perfect. The problem is that perfection just doesn’t exist. Nobody is perfect, not even Christians, we fall short of the glory of God every day.

Impatience is not the same thing as righteous anger against wrongdoing. When we’re impatient, we’re not seeking to right wrongs or make things better. We’re just demanding that everything be the way we want it right now.

Being patient means accepting that we’re all flawed, but also that we can improve. Perfection is not your goal. Instead, be patient with yourself as you work on growing in virtue. Be patient with others as they strive to do the same.

Be kind to yourself and others.

Christian kindness is not being nice just for the sake of it. It’s a deliberate decision to put the needs of others before your own.

Kindness means not just smiling at people, it means being considerate of their feelings and being helpful when they need it. We often feel guilty being kind to ourselves, as if being good to ourselves is greedy.

Being kind to yourself means taking the time you need for self care. It means taking the time you need for spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible reading, and worship. It means taking care of your physical health by eating properly, getting enough sleep, and exercising.

It means not expecting yourself to be perfect all the time. It means forgiving yourself when you fall short of your own expectations. It also means being kind to others.

Be generous with your time and resources.

Be thoughtful about the feelings of others. Be helpful when you’re able to be develop a habit of self care.

It’s easy to become so focused on being good to others that we forget to be good to ourselves. If cultivating a Christian love of self care is not a natural part of your life, it’s time to make it so self care is not self indulgence. It’s a deliberate decision to put yourself first, you need to be healthy to be good to others.

Self Care doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time. There are many small ways you can put yourself first, here are a few ideas. Get a full night’s sleep every night and take a short nap during the day if you feel the need. Eat a healthy diet. Exercise regularly. Manage your stress. Take regular time to be alone and reflect on God. Find supportive people to talk to about your struggles.

Spend time with God in prayer. Take care of your mental and emotional health by setting boundaries with toxic people in your life and other forms of self care. Find ways to build regular self compassion into your daily life.

Find ways to serve others.

As Christians we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to serve others and put their needs before our own. We are called to be a blessing to others. This is one of the primary ways we cultivate Christian love in our own hearts.

There are many ways you can serve others and many opportunities to do so. Think about your unique gifts and look for ways to use them for the benefit of others.

Here are a few ideas for how you can serve others. Join a ministry at your local church and use your gifts to serve others. serve meals at a homeless shelter. Tutor a child who needs help improving their grades. Offer to babysit the children of a single parent, volunteer at an adoption agency. Don’t forget to serve those in your own family.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

These are biblical truths that are sometimes easy to forget. When we forget these truths, we grow distant from one another and fall out of love.

If you’ve ever felt yourself growing impatient or frustrated, or if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of these emotions, you know that they don’t bring people together. Instead, they push us apart. When we are busy being impatient or frustrated. We are not loving.

It’s easy to think that it’s impossible to be loving all the time however with intentionally focusing on God and asking Him for help, we can actively work toward loving one another.