If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever. (NLT)
Observation:
Love is everything our sinful human natures are not. Our mouths may speak of love and our minds may know of love, but our wicked and deceitful hearts are anything but love. God has commanded us to love (Matthew 22:37-40), but it is not something that comes easy for any human being, especially for those who have been betrayed by love or those who have never experienced what it is to be loved. We cannot comprehend any kind of true love if we, ourselves, have never been in touch with it.
Application:
This fallen world teaches us many different definitions of what love is, but its view of love only aims at satisfying our own selfish and lustful desires; not the true desires that God has put into every human heart. We all have our own views on what love should look like in our lives, but it is only when we grow to know the heart of God that we will really begin to understand what love is all about. Love is not about us, my friends; it is all about our Creator, for God is love (1 John 4:8)! Our lives were created to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7) and when we sincerely have the desire to please the One with whom we were created for; He will open the eyes of our hearts to His truth about love and how it should be acted upon. When you know who God is and what He has done, it is rather easy to fall in love with Him. But it is a whole different ball game when it comes to loving yourself and other sin filled people. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can see ourselves as God sees us and grow to love others as the Lord would have us love; even those who have hurt us and also those who hate us. No one will ever be able to perfect the art of loving the way God does, but we can begin the journey of loving others one person at a time and eventually we will (one day soon) fully experience the perfect love of God in all its Glory!
Prayer:
Dear LORD, help me discern what love is and what love is not. Help me gain the wisdom that will help me grow in my love for others. It is never easy to love those who don’t have our best interest in mind, but I know that with Your leading I will find the way to love as You have called me to love.
Amen
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