Two things about Love

As I look deeply into Paul's famous 'love' passage in 1 Corinthians 13 I see that there are two actions that love compels. Paul says that 'love is patient, love is kind'. Gordan Fee says of this that Paul is doing two things here:

1. He is referring to the two responses that love compels. First, patience is translated in the King James Version of the Bible as 'suffereth long'. Sometimes in the name of love we are powerless to do anything but 'suffereth long'. Second, The other thing that Paul says about love is that it is kind. Kindness speaks of 'taking action', often in a compassionate fashion. So, love compels us to either: wait or take action as ambassadors of Christ. We can trust the Holy Spirit to guide us in both contexts.

2. But on a deeper level these two 'love responses' are symbolic of God's actions for us. They are actually what he has done for us. He waited and withheld what we deserved and then he acted through the sending of his son, Jesus Christ. Read John 3:16! Wow!