Love’s Attributes (8) Love is not provoked
Love’s Attributes (8)
(#162 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“Love is not provoked!” (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Love is not provoked, and therefore, Yahweh is not provoked!
From its origination in Hebrew and the context of different words dealing with provocation, it is always love’s enemy that does the provoking. And though love is never hindered by it, identifying the provoker is the key.
So what are love’s enemies? Hate, pride, resentment, selfishness, greed, and on and on it goes. And, from where do these enemies derive? That’s right, from none other than the ego of man. But be of good cheer loved one, as love is not provoked. It will never be defeated by the vain conditions of the mind of man.
And this eighth attribute of love, or pillar as we gain a mental picture, speaks as the previous seven; it mocks any offense, as love itself is unoffendable. Again, love is complete as it is. Created by Yahweh as a revelation of His essence, love is filled with the power of Yahweh, the power to attain to the exact purpose of its existence. Ask yourself, “Was man created for love, or was love created for man?” How you answer this says much, and you would do well to seek His face and receive His answer.
Remember loved one, when scripture reveals that Yahweh is not provoked, it is never that love has felt the need to be anything other than what it already is. The provoking is illustrated to show you how the ego is always in opposition to the truth about love, ever straining to compromise it with intellectual and emotional rationalization!
I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]. (John 13:34-35)