God's LoveSample

Love is Patient

The Apostle Paul is beloved by almost every Christian. He is a hero of the faith. But that was not always the case. As a matter of fact, he was arch enemy number one. He despised everything and everyone connected to this new sect called “The Way.”

We first meet Paul, or Saul as he was known, at the stoning of Stephen. He watched the fury of this moment with self-righteous approval. The NIV put it this way, “And Saul approved of their killing him” (Acts 8:1).

This provoked a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem with Saul leading the charge. He marched from house to house and dragged off men and women and put them in prison. He was not going to stop until he destroyed the church.

His next target was the synagogues in Damascus. You know the story. With letters in hand from the high priest, he stormed off to Damascus to round up all the believers and take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared the city, a bright light from heaven stopped him dead in his tracks. And he heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Imagine being in Paul's shoes at that moment. What would you expect from the Lord if you had done what Paul did? In both word and action, Paul had blasphemed God's name. According to the law, the Mosaic Covenant, he deserved the ultimate punishment.

Instead of punishment, he encountered the love of God. Paul put it this way in his letter to Timothy: "I was shown mercy so that in the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life" (1 Timothy 1:16).

Paul grew up wanting to be God's guy. He wanted to be a leader for the people of God. But he missed the boat. Yet, God never gave up on him. That’s love.

It was a love so powerful that this man Paul, who “was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” became the apostle to the Gentile world. It's no wonder Paul began the definition of love with these immortal words: "Love is patient."

So let me ask you. What were you like before you trusted Jesus Christ? Here is the good news. No matter how far afield you got, God never gave up on you. He stuck with you through thick and thin. He patiently loved you. You discovered, just like Paul and Peter and every other believer, “that our Lord’s patience means salvation” (2 Peter 3:15).