“Patient love has the power to transform and restore.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 26, 2026
The Patience of a Parent’s Love
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Every parent knows what it is to desire good for a child so much that it burns you up inside. Especially when that child is struggling. Whether it be the defiant toddler who cheats himself of joy in his obstinate insistence to have everything his own way or the wayward young adult who plunges headfirst into misplaced desire, our children’s hearts are beyond our control. They are born fully fledged human beings with dispositions, predilections, and personalities that we did not choose nor can we mold into the child we wish we had. But we can speak truth into their lives, we can model faithfulness to Christ, we can pray for them, and above all these, we can love them patiently.
What does patient love look like in the day-to-day trenches of parenthood? The Father in the Luke 15 parable of the prodigal son provides us with the perfect paradigm. When his son chooses the prodigal path, the father knows better than to bind him up or bear down on him with harsh words, for what good would that do to a wayward heart? Instead, he holds out all that he has to his son in perfect sacrificial love, even when that precious gift is not valued. And then, he waits. Patiently, he loves his son until the day the prodigal returns, heart softened. The Father’s patient love is then poured out in a festal celebration on his boy, at last restored to a rightful relationship.
The Father’s love is, of course, a picture of our Heavenly Father’s love for us. It is the very highest and best, and, as such, only attainable to us through the Holy Spirit. I am not naturally patient as a parent. When I see a heart problem in my child, my first instinct is panic. I want to sound the alarm and squash out the problem like I might attack a parasite. Give me a method, and I’ll get to work. But that is not the way the Father loves me. He does not treat me as a problem to be solved or a project to be perfected, but as a being to be loved into wholeness. It is only patient, gentle love offered up time and time again that heals hearts and restores shalom. Having patient love for our children means praying for them and waiting on the Lord, trusting that his Spirit is at work in the depths of their souls, the souls that he himself formed and knows intimately. Above all, it means watching the horizon with arms ready to open wide and fold our child in when at last their hearts soften. For the key to loving our children patiently is also found in Paul’s famous love canticle: Love always hopes. We can love them patiently because we believe a day of celebration is coming. However long the wait, love never fails.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, when I think about your love for me, I realize how patiently you have loved me. Grant me your patient, gentle, full-of-hope love for those you’ve placed in my care. Amen.
Application
Re-assess your approach to difficult situations with your children or those in your care. Are you patient, trusting in the Lord’s work and in the power of love?
Related Reading
Psalm 145:8; Luke 15:11-32; 1 Timothy 1:15-16; 2 Peter 3:9
Worship Resource
Katherine Parham: Great is Your Faithfulness
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