Love

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8


This verse is stated a lot, but really it is taken for granted. Are we ALWAYS patient? kind? Do we ever envy someone? Could you say that you have never boasted? That is hard. Love is not proud...that is very difficult ("God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."). Do you ever rush around so much that you actually forget respect for people and just act rude? For example, you could be rude by passing someone on the highway and then cutting someone off. Or, you could be buying groceries and not even smile at the cashier who is being so sweet and kind. When we are rude, the end result is usually that we are seeking ourselves...(self-seeking). Love is not easily angered-- "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." Colossians 3:8 Lastly, we should not keep any record of wrongs. God tells us that we should delight in the truth and stray away from evil.  I can look at myself with all of these, and I fail on a lot of them. Love is a hard thing to do in this perverse world that we live in. Let's dig in to some more scripture.


"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15


The world creeps in a lot into our lives. We live in a place that is corrupted. We turn on the TV and radio and hear corrupted things. We go to the store and deal with worldly people. We have to try to protect ourselves from this and fill our lives with Christ. If something, or someone is in our life and is not building you up to live for God, then we need to weed out those people in our lives. I understand some of those people might be our family, and yet we have to love them, but that does not mean we have to be around them all the time and make them a soul part in all of our decision making. We have to follow God's Will because no matter what, in the end, His Will will be done. Are we letting the world influence us, or are we influencing the world for Christ?


"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7


Within the first few seconds of meeting someone you can put your own perspective on who that person is. It is pretty easy to determine if someone loves God or not. Are we shining our light for Christ at all times, or are people looking at us and thinking that we do not have the love of God in us? That would not be a good thing. God's Word says "everyone who loves is born of God and knows God". If we don't love, we must not know God. He clearly shows His love, and how to love in the scriptures. Are we lacking in this area?


"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 1 John 4:12


"We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16


"I am giving you a new commandment to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." John 13:34


"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death." 1 John 3:14


Love, resulting in life or death. That is powerful and shows us how much more we should start loving one another with the love Christ has shown us.


I hope some of these scriptures will strengthen you to love more and to show love to others. Don't just skim through these, take these to heart. Think about them. Think about your life and how you are putting to practice these things. Think about how you treat others and the discipline that God will perform because of your actions.


"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19


"Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" Matthew 22:37-38


"“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." Luke 6:27-36

God is such a wonderful God and the number one love act He did was sending His ONLY son to die for us. Think about that for a second. God sent His ONLY....ONLY Son..to die for me and you--wicked as we are..not loving like we should..betraying God everyday in things that we do and think....yes, He sent his only Son do DIE, for us so that we might be able to live eternally according to the riches of his grace....


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:3-10 


God didn't just send His only Son to die, but to live, and He lives today waiting for His people to love Him and to love others. Do we have that love? Are we loving God and loving others? Are we showing the world the light and love of Christ in our lives, or are we being two faced? There are too many people today acting one way at church and one way every other day. It is time to wake up and realize the love for Christ we should have.


Lets stop talking, and start loving.


And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13