The next quality of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is that it is not provoked. Provoked is a rare word in the New Testament and can be used in a good sense (Hebrews 10:24; Acts 17:16). It seems to have the basic idea of to react, as to a strong smell. In 1 Corinthians 13 it clearly speaks of simply reacting to things, generally in anger. I have found it is frequently very easy to put my mouth in motion before I put my brain in gear. In this, it helps to trust God and believe He can help me deal with the difficulties I face in life (Proverbs 3:5,6; Psalms 37:3-7: 127:1-2). It also has helped me, whenever possible, to delay answering until I have time to think about my answer. Sometimes it is best to just keep silent (Proverbs 17:28; 21:23; 15:28). But the bottom line is that love considers the welfare of the other person above our own (Philippians 2:3-11; Matthew 7:12; Romans 15:1-3). This is often hard to remember when dealing with another person, especially if they are genuinely behaving badly (which is known to happen). But we need to trust God to empower us not to react in the immediate moment (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:16; Philippians 2:13).
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