charity is not easily provoked.

I think everyone can give you the standard definition of what charity is: the pure love of Christ. I've been reading Jesus the Christ, and a few weeks ago during a Sunday School lesson I had a thought on charity:

1 Corinthians 13:4-5
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind . . . [it] doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil."

What resonated with me recently is that charity "suffereth long, is kind . . . is not easily provoked." Looking to Christ's exemplary life, he was - especially in the last year of his ministry - continuously attacked. The scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees tried to provoke him, to pin him down for blasphemy, and find something they could charge Him with.

Christ knew people's hearts; this came because of His closeness to the Spirit, His lineage of deity, and His humility and patience to understand the motives, fears, hopes, struggles, and faith of each daughter or son of God.

If we are to have charity like Christ, we must have that same humility and patience to understand those around us. We will always run into people we do not see eye-to-eye with, with whom we don't share political, religious, or moral beliefs, who drive us crazy. But charity demands that we have patience with these people and that we have the humility to take the time to try and understand why they have the beliefs they do. Just because someone disagrees with us on how the gospel should be lived, or which political candidate will best serve our country, it does not mean that they're ignorant, uneducated heathens.

Charity demands that we seek to understand the motivations of this person: what life experiences have led them to these conclusions and beliefs, what is most important to them, why do they feel the way they feel and how is that influencing their thought paradigm? What are their hopes, fears, struggles, and where do they put their faith?

We must reserve judgment, we must listen to the other side, and we must love them even when we disagree with what they fundamentally believe. We don't have to change how we feel, but we should give everyone the same humility and patience Christ gave. We can keep disagreeing, but if we try to understand each other, we will at least have a civil discussion that may lead to positive change, and we may even be able to be good friends despite our differences. We will not be easily provoked, but will seek to understand in place of drawing our own conclusions.

This is definitely something I can work on.