Key points
- 1
1Love is not subjective — it has already been defined by God and is a standard believers must live up to, even when it is difficult.
“God's greatest weapon to reach this world, it's love. But his greatest instrument of that love, it's you and I”
- 2
2Without love as the motive, even the best spiritual gifts and good deeds miss the heart of God completely.
“if the church becomes known for really truly anything other than people who are motivated out of, who are driven by a deep love for this world, then all of the things that we can do, even good things, giving our money, sacrificing our time, serving people, done with the wrong intents, we will miss the heart of God completely”
A story from life
Pastor Daniel describes waiting twenty minutes for a mobile pickup order at Chick-fil-A and his own impatience with Amazon delivery times
- 3
3Patience (makrothumia) is a long-suffering, high-boiling-point love oriented toward people — it expects disappointment yet chooses to keep loving as God loves us.
- 4
4God has wired believers differently — with different gifts, hearts, abilities, personalities, and experiences — and the goal is unity, not uniformity.
“the goal is unity not uniformity”
“the worst thing that can happen to us is not that we get offended, it's that we don't love well the person who does the offending”
A story from life
Pastor Daniel describes how his introverted wife nearly collapsed when he gave high school students the garage code without telling her
- 5
5Remembering how patient God has been with us is the first key to growing in patience toward others.
- 6
6Patience is inseparably linked to understanding: the wiser and more understanding we become about another person, the more patient we can be with them.
- 7
7Our hope cannot be in any political party or human structure — it must be in Jesus alone, which frees us to love people across every difference.
“our hope cannot be in an elephant or a donkey. It has to be in the lion of the tribe of Judah. His name is Jesus and he's coming again”
“There is a reason that God has given you and I two ears and only one mouth. We as the people of God, we need to learn what it means to seek to understand again and not try to be understood”
Application
Pastor Daniel calls the congregation to two concrete practices. First, regularly recall how patient God has been with you — especially in your worst moments — because forgetting that patience makes it easy to become impatient with everyone around you. Second, choose to seek understanding before seeking to be understood. Whether it is a family member at Thanksgiving, a coworker, a fellow church member, or someone whose politics baffle you, stop talking long enough to ask honest questions and actually listen. Understanding someone's story creates patience where frustration used to live. The goal is not to agree on everything but to remain united in love, remembering that the stakes are eternal: the patient, loving way you treat difficult people may be the clearest picture of Jesus they ever see.
