Devotional

You see these words, brag, proud, arrogant; the three of them are triplets. They have the same DNA because they are so intertwined that you cannot have one without the other.

Jealousy comes from fear. Fear that I will not get my turn. Fear that what they have somehow reduces what is available to me. Love casts out fear, and love believes that what God has for someone else does not cancel what He has for me. Love is not Jealous. How can it be jealous? Love wants you to thrive, and it doesn’t care what it has to give up to see you succeed.

If we’re going to talk about love, then we have to go back to the source. And the source of love is God. You cannot have the expressions of love, the outward manifestations and conduct of love, if you do not have the source ingredient, which is God.

“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” Colossians‬

‘bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause

Patience is your ability to tolerate someone you find unpleasant. Someone whose temperament does not work for you. Someone whose habits you do not like. And, yes, you are still expected to love them and their “bad character”.

The easiest way to describe meekness is this: bringing your strength under control. To be tender and gentle. And this is not a strength everybody possesses (By everybody I mean me and maybe you).

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility,

When we talk about kindness, we are talking about benevolence, a nature of goodness. And it shows in the way that you treat people. It shows in how you help, how you give alms to the poor, how you support those who are in need, how you speak, even the gentleness of the way that you speak to people, that your words are always kind [Ephesians 4:32].

We need to learn to clothe ourselves in the reality of our brethren suffering, so that we understand things from their perspective.