“Patient Not Prickly”

Today, with pet peeves and politics, we are so easily offended by what people say or don’t say, eat or don’t eat, what they are reading or what they are watching, it’s no longer seen as a weakness to be easily offended but it’s seen as right. It’s almost as if the world says it’s a good thing to be touchy or easily provoked. But the Bible says the exact opposite. It says love is patient not prickly. We read that love is patient, slow to anger and are reminded by the late Dallas Willard that “everything we can do with anger, we can do better without it.” Leaders can be both candid and kind when bringing feedback to an employee, parents can discipline children and “mean it without being mean.” In the same way, with God’s help, we can be patient not prickly.