[Love] is not provoked. —1 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV
What does it take to provoke you? Maybe it’s a habit of your spouse you find annoying or someone who forgets to relay a message you communicated.
Love guards against being irritated, against getting upset or angered by things done against it. Now, there’s a righteous anger that God has and there’s a righteous anger we have against things that anger God. However, I often find the things that provoke me aren’t those that anger God; they’re the things that disturb my peace, that upset my agenda and my plans.
The ESV translation of 1 Corinthians 13:5 says love “does not insist on its own way.” The person who is intent on having his own way will be easily provoked. Yet when we’re filled with Christ’s love, we won’t get angry at others when they say or do something that displeases us or when they keep us from getting our own way.
Scripture says love overlooks a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). Are you easily irritated when your rights are violated, or do you have the kind of love that overlooks offenses?
Make it Personal
As you go throughout your day, ask God to help you have the kind of love for others that is unperturbed by circumstances.