| Genuine love (charity) is both long-suffering and kind. It “is kind” in the times when it “suffereth long,” for genuine love in the Christian’s heart is “the love of God … shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”; it is “love in the Spirit.” God’s love, though tested and tried and trampled on by men, still is both long-suffering and kind, “for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil,” “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” “Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,” “and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” “with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.” We are called upon to manifest our Lord to others “by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned.” “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.” |
