Learning to Love...Continued from page 3

Susan Nikaido

____ Inconsiderate people

____ People who do things slowly

____ People who repeatedly make mistakes

____ Other (describe):

 

7. How do you generally treat people when you are impatient?

8. Think of a person or situation that often tries your patience. How could having a loving attitude give you the ability to be more patient with this person or situation?

Love is kind. A kind person is someone who is always looking out for opportunities to do something good for others. In Acts 10:38, Peter spoke about the Lord Jesus being anointed “with the Holy Spirit and power.” What was the effect of this anointing? Does the passage say Jesus went about preaching wonderful sermons and doing great miracles? No, it says, “He went around doing good”(emphasis added). He looked for opportunities to help people.

Kindness is putting yourself at the disposal of other people, forgetting and losing yourself in their interests, trying to help them and make them happy. Love is just like that.

9. Describe a time when you observed someone showing kindness, either in word or in deed.

10. Why is kindness a sign of love?

11. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:15 and 2 Timothy 2:24. In what kinds of situations does Paul tell us to be kind?

12. Is there anyone with whom you are currently having a conflict or who has recently hurt you? If so, what would it look like to show kindness to that person?

13. Read Jeremiah 9:24. How does God respond when we show kindness to others?

Love is never jealous, never envious. Love never envies someone who is more gifted, more attractive, or more successful, someone who is richer or owns more, or who is more clever. Isn’t it part of our nature to say, “I wish I had that”? Doesn’t our culture play upon this covetous streak in us and make us envy what others have, so that we want something better all the time? But love is content with what it has. Love is content with what God has given, in personality or possessions or in anything else.

I think of John the Baptist as one of the most remarkable examples of a man without jealousy. He had been the center of the Jewish nation’s attention. He went out to the desert and the crowds followed him there from every direction. Then Jesus came on the scene, and John found his followers leaving him and going after Jesus. He found his congregation going to the church around the corner, so to speak.

What was John’s reaction? He said, “My joy is fulfilled. I love to hear the Bridegroom’s voice and I’m listening to it now. He must increase and I must decrease.” Love is not jealous.