Ed Rangel · Waupaca Church of Christ · June 14, 2026
“Love is patient, love is kind…”
1 Corinthians 13:4
We want patience, but we want it immediately.
We want growth, change, answers, and relief without waiting.
Our culture has trained us to hate waiting.
Paul is not writing wedding-card poetry.
He is correcting a gifted church that lacked love.
Biblical love chooses controlled strength, mercy, and endurance instead of quick anger.
Patient means long-tempered.
It takes a long time to become angry.
The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
God’s patience is mercy under control.
It is not indifference. It is not weakness.
We have needed His longsuffering again and again.
So we have no right to be cruel and merciless toward others.
Patience does not excuse sin.
God is patient, but God still commands repentance.
Admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:14
Admonition and patience are not enemies.
The patient person acts, but under God’s rule.
He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29
A man may conquer a city and still be a slave to his temper.
Love is not a hair-trigger temper.
It is not looking for a reason to fire.
Many impatient moments are not righteous concern.
They are inconvenience wearing religious clothing.
Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
James 1:19–20
We often reverse God’s order.
God’s work is not accomplished by fleshly temper.
Impatience often grows when we are:
Fatigue exposes sin.
It does not excuse it.
One impatient sentence can undo months of influence.
Delay tests faith.
Patience keeps working while waiting.
People and problems rarely change overnight.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7
Love is not gullible.
But it is not cynical either.
We often show more patience with ourselves than with others.
That double standard reveals pride, not love.
Walk in a manner worthy… with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.
Ephesians 4:1–2
Patience is hardest when the wrong is real.
Love does not keep a private ledger of offenses.
Homes need patient love.
Marriage joins two sinners who must grow, repent, forgive, listen, learn, and mature.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
The church needs patient love.
Weak souls are not machines. Restoration takes time.
Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
Galatians 6:1
Love is patient.
The Lord has been patient with you. Now walk in that same spirit toward others.