LOVE’S RESPONSE

…is not easily angered…– 1 Corinthians 13: 5c (NIV)

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God – James 1: 18-19

Love is not easily angered. Love is not provoked. Love is not irritable. Anger or provocation – like rudeness – is often a response to something that we feel shouldn’t have happened to us. It is easy to present being provoked as an excuse to justify our untoward behaviour. That is not to say that the things that provoke us are always acceptable – maybe they should not have occurred, but how are we reacting or responding? How do we respond to those who trouble us, who are a pain in the neck?

We do offend God regularly, either intentionally or not. What if He was always provoked by our attitudes and actions? We need to rise above the level of immaturity that flares up at petty provocations. As people, circumstances and situations try to get on our nerves, we must mature, grow, and learn to get rid of our excuses, while walking with God and working for Him. The indwelling Holy Spirit wants to be the Source of our strength in all situations, regardless of the pressures.

God used Moses mightily to break the backbone of Pharaoh, to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness and toward the Promised Land, yet he never entered in. He got as far as the border of Canaan and saw it from afar, because he allowed himself to be provoked by the people he was supposed to love and lead. In frustration and anger he misrepresented God to the people at Kadesh and at the waters of Meribah. That is how fatal the consequences to lack of love could be!

The only place of anger in a believer’s life is the holy anger against that which does not glorify God: Jesus’ anger that whipped the moneychangers from the temple or Paul’s anger when he saw the idols of Athens (Jh. 2: 14-17; Acts 17:16). True love is not easily shaken; it rests on PRINCIPLES. Fake love quickly vacillates. It feels somewhat inconvenienced when provoked; its pride attacked. Whereas, love’s determination stays strong and unbending. Though hardly practicable in the power of the flesh, God expects by the power of His Spirit in us that love will not be provoked; that we may be spared the negative consequences thereof.