Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Shut Up!
The root word translated "rudely" here means deformed, indecent, unseemly; conduct unbecoming, well, anyone.
Deformed, indecent, and unseemly conduct has no place in agape love. Neither rudeness nor crudeness is loving.
As a loving, spiritual and Christian man, I am NEVER rude, and just Shut Up! if you think otherwise. And stop scraping your spoon on that bowl. I can't THINK! How do expect me to concentrate and write this devotional if everyone is being so DISRUPTIVE and INCONSIDERATE!
Don't you just hate it when other people are rude! It drives me up a wall and makes me feel superior simultaneously. "Were they fetched up in a barn?" my father would say, which was ironic because based on the stories he told of his childhood, he pretty much spent his formative years in a barn.
I know being rude is wrong, but it is so easy. It's one of the easiest sins around. And it's satisfying.
I am sighing now because one of the most obvious, most readily recognizable proofs that I am failing the tests of agape love is being rude. And successful rudeness relies on failing all the other hallmarks of love in this verse, as well. In fact, rudeness is utterly dependent on being impatient, unkind, feeling entitled, being the most important, and putting oneself first. Without those bedrock components serving as a foundation layer, rudeness collapses on itself like a balloon whose air has suddenly been let out.
And make no mistake, it is PRIVATE rudeness that is the true signpost. Being polite in public is a piece of cake, especially when you realize the potential for unintended consequences, like the driver in front of you stopping the car, getting out and walking toward you with a tire iron in his thigh-sized arm. Domestic rudeness is safe and comfortable in comparison. I find that most cowards are publicly polite while privately rude.
And don't think it stops at actions. Don't think you've accomplished much by NOT actually saying something, or being moderately effective at keeping that look of contempt and irritation off your face. Or by saying polite words that float on wrong feelings. God is not mocked and was not born yesterday. Thoughts and attitudes can and will be held against you.
The only way to combat rudeness is to be thankful. To live your life as if every moment were your last. To remember all that has been forgiven you, and then to fall on your face in humility and shame for thinking that you deserve anything but death.
The diametric opposite of rudeness is not politeness. It is graciousness.
And once more, Jesus is THE example we are given to emulate.
Being reviled, He blessed. Being tortured and humiliated and crucified, He forgave.
Hold your own behavior up against His and weep at your unbridled selfishness and offense.
Then maybe, just maybe, graciousness will seep into your heart and wash away that rudeness.
…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT, (1 Peter 1:14, 15, NKJV).
Shut Up!
The root word translated "rudely" here means deformed, indecent, unseemly; conduct unbecoming, well, anyone.
Deformed, indecent, and unseemly conduct has no place in agape love. Neither rudeness nor crudeness is loving.
As a loving, spiritual and Christian man, I am NEVER rude, and just Shut Up! if you think otherwise. And stop scraping your spoon on that bowl. I can't THINK! How do expect me to concentrate and write this devotional if everyone is being so DISRUPTIVE and INCONSIDERATE!
Don't you just hate it when other people are rude! It drives me up a wall and makes me feel superior simultaneously. "Were they fetched up in a barn?" my father would say, which was ironic because based on the stories he told of his childhood, he pretty much spent his formative years in a barn.
I know being rude is wrong, but it is so easy. It's one of the easiest sins around. And it's satisfying.
I am sighing now because one of the most obvious, most readily recognizable proofs that I am failing the tests of agape love is being rude. And successful rudeness relies on failing all the other hallmarks of love in this verse, as well. In fact, rudeness is utterly dependent on being impatient, unkind, feeling entitled, being the most important, and putting oneself first. Without those bedrock components serving as a foundation layer, rudeness collapses on itself like a balloon whose air has suddenly been let out.
And make no mistake, it is PRIVATE rudeness that is the true signpost. Being polite in public is a piece of cake, especially when you realize the potential for unintended consequences, like the driver in front of you stopping the car, getting out and walking toward you with a tire iron in his thigh-sized arm. Domestic rudeness is safe and comfortable in comparison. I find that most cowards are publicly polite while privately rude.
And don't think it stops at actions. Don't think you've accomplished much by NOT actually saying something, or being moderately effective at keeping that look of contempt and irritation off your face. Or by saying polite words that float on wrong feelings. God is not mocked and was not born yesterday. Thoughts and attitudes can and will be held against you.
The only way to combat rudeness is to be thankful. To live your life as if every moment were your last. To remember all that has been forgiven you, and then to fall on your face in humility and shame for thinking that you deserve anything but death.
The diametric opposite of rudeness is not politeness. It is graciousness.
And once more, Jesus is THE example we are given to emulate.
Being reviled, He blessed. Being tortured and humiliated and crucified, He forgave.
Hold your own behavior up against His and weep at your unbridled selfishness and offense.
Then maybe, just maybe, graciousness will seep into your heart and wash away that rudeness.
…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT, (1 Peter 1:14, 15, NKJV).
