Jesus Is Patient
Captain's Log: Table Time ~ Saturday, September 6th, 2025 ~ Lauds
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
A little sleep-in this morning after a tiring week. I could hear the children beginning to get out of hand, to speak harshly with one another. And then one of them spoke particularly harshly. So the sleep-in was over.
1 Corinthians 13 struck me as the needed medicine. So once I’d made some eggs for us, I turned to the passage and read vv1-3. ‘What is Paul saying about love?’ Some thinking. ‘It sounds important, doesn’t it?’ I reached for some analogies. What would a breakfast be like… if it had toast… bacon… baked beans… avocado… orange juice… but no eggs? ‘Oh no!’ ‘That breakfast would be nothing, right?’ This may be a little strong, but you see where I was going! Why would it be nothing? Because it’s missing the critical ingredient.
Or what would a home be like if it had a big dining table… a comfortable sofa… plates and cups… beds in the bedrooms… fawns in the wardrobes… soft towels in the bathrooms… but no family to live in it? ‘Oh no!’ That home wouldn’t really be a home, would it? Or what about a beautiful book… without any pages inside? What is Paul saying about love? Lydia: ‘Love is the most important part!’ Love is the most important part. It’s the critical ingredient in a Christian. A Christian is nothing… without love.
We wondered about the church. Congregants… elders… deacons… Bibles… prayers… sermons… but no love? I mentioned Paul’s context. He was writing to Christians who thought they were very spiritual. What does it mean to be spiritual? If you saw someone who was “spiritual,” what would you be seeing? Someone teaching the Bible? Someone reading the Bible? Someone singing or praying publicly on Sunday? But if they don’t have love, they’re nothing. They’re actually not very spiritual at all, even if they do and say things that make it seem that they are.
We wondered about a Christian family. Us. We can read the Bible twice a day… pray together… sing together… learn catechism… never miss church… but what if we didn’t have love? Would we be a healthy Christian family? Would we be very spiritual?
Paul is saying that whatever else a Christian has, if they don’t have love… they’re nothing. We read on to see what love is (vv4-7). Because we wanted to know what love is… we wanted Paul to show us. These verses already felt heavy as I read them. The children are not the only ones who have been falling short of these words recently. My patience hasn’t been as good as it needs to be. My kindness hasn’t been as constant as it needs to be.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I did something I once heard a great Australian preacher do. ‘Does this work? Lydia is patient… Lydia is kind; Lydia does not envy or boast; Lydia is not arrogant or rude. She does not insist on her own way… Some awkward chuckling around the table. Awkward because we know it’s a bit of fun, but at the same time, we sense that a serious point was being made. ‘Does this work?’ The children: ‘No…’ ‘How about this: Lewis is patient… Lewis is kind; he is not irritable or resentful… Liam does not envy or boast; Liam bears all things… endures all things… Does that work?’ Liam: ‘No! Because Liam envies.’
‘How about this… Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things… Do you understand?’
Liam: “Dada, I think this is the first time you cried when you’re an adult!” Laughter all around the table. And more teary eyes than mine only. We were quite arrested by the passage and the moment. ‘Do you see how this challenges, rebukes, and corrects us today? We are not what we ought to be. But Jesus is. Jesus is what we ought to be. And when we are not like him, when we do not have love, we need to run to him. He’s the only one who can help us. Because he’s the only one who is all these things.
I exhorted us. ‘Let’s not be content to be impatient. Let’s not be content to be unkind. Remember: we will make no provision for the flesh. We will put the deeds of the body to death (from our As For Me song). Liam: “Dada, that’s from your song!” Let’s go to Jesus quickly when we are not what we ought to be and ask Him to help us, OK?
