Love is Not Provoked

1 Corinthians 13:5

“Love…is not provoked…”

Love never loses control. It never loses its temper. Love does not get irritated or annoyed at others for an offense against themselves. We all naturally defend ourselves against others, whether verbally, or in our mind. 

We will at times have others blatantly try to attack us and get under our skin; other times we will be around people who know how to push our buttons. We must never respond to people in a sudden outrage, losing control of any sense of calmness we may have. Responding out of emotion is almost never a good thing, and reacting angrily for your own personal offense is a sin. There is such thing as “righteous anger” but that is when others are attacking God’s Name. Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26 tell us to “be angry and do not sin.” Jesus also got angry and did not sin when He ran the money changers out of the temple because of His zeal for God’s house (Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17). However, Jesus never lost His head or became irritated or annoyed with others because of how they attacked Him personally.

In Luke 10:38-41, we see Jesus’ reaction to being called out for being perceived as doing wrong. Jesus was visiting Mary and Martha and, while Martha finished preparing the meal, Mary sat at Jesus feet and tried to learn what she could from Him. Martha was irritated by the fact that Mary was not helping her; however, she did not come and demand Mary help her, but came and said to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me alone?”

You can see from reading the passage that this was not actually a question she wanted an answer to, but it was meant to make a point. She may as well have said, “Lord you don’t care that my sister has left me alone.” As the One who would raise Martha’s brother Lazarus from the dead, not to mention the One who would pay the penalty for our sins though He was the only One who was not guilty, you can imagine that being told you don’t care about someone would naturally cause you to be irritated. But Jesus did not become annoyed, irritated, or angry about this personal attack. Instead He responded to Martha calmly and even gave her wise counsel.

I know I have been saying this in a lot of the articles I have written, but it is pivotal to remember that Jesus was 100% man as well as being 100% God. Jesus dealt with temptations; He dealt with the devil constantly trying to poke at Him and provoke Him. Yet He never sinned. He never thought about Himself, He dealt with personal attacks and was unbothered by them. The only time He got angry or rebuked people was when they attacked God or His deity.

We think of sins like being irritated or annoyed as small, insignificant sins, but we shouldn’t. No sin is insignificant in God’s eyes. I know personally I have had moments (on my good days) where I am irritated about the way someone has said something to me, and then perhaps a second later I will realize I sinned and confess it. That seems like a pretty good response rate to sin, but Jesus never even did that. He never had a one-second slip. How do we know that? Because He died on the cross for our sins, and only a perfect person could take God’s wrath.

Jesus is the ultimate example for us. I love to read about different men in the past who have shown great faith, whether it be Joseph, David, the Apostle Paul, or the more recent spiritual giants like Jonathan Edwards, John Bunyan, or David Brainerd. The fact is, though, these men were sinners. They were imperfect. Yes, they were fantastic examples, and God delighted in them, but they are not the ultimate example, Jesus is. It is important that we never forget that.

Let’s us strive to follow the example of Jesus, the One who never became provoked or irritated. To do so, we must love the way He did for, “Love…is not provoked.” Focusing on the first and second commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) will strengthen our ability to refrain from being irritated or annoyed at our own personal offense, and instead focus solely on Him.

Follow us on Social Media!