Sermon Illustrations

WHAT LOVE DOES

1. Love is Patient – v4

It takes a long time before fuming & breaking into flames. Love doesn’t retaliate. Love’s patience is the ability to be inconvenienced by a person over & over again without getting angry.

-Romans 12:17 Refuses to pay back evil for evil, but if slapped on the right cheek, will turn the left (Matthew 5:39).

One of Abraham Lincoln’s earliest political enemies was Edwin M. Stanton. He called Lincoln a “low cunning clown” and “the original gorilla”. “It was ridiculous for people to go to Africa to see a gorilla,” he would say, “when they could find one easily in Springfield, ILL.” Lincoln never responded to the slander, but when, as president, he needed a secretary of war, he chose Stanton. When his surprised friends asked why, Lincoln replied, “Because he is the best man.” Years later, as the slain president’s body lay in state, Stanton looked into the coffin and said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.” His anger was finally broken by Lincoln’s long-suffering, nonretaliatory spirit.

From Gene Gregory’s Sermon: The Most Important