Bible Verses: Love

We are back and after the Valentine's Fun and Excitement. Perhaps you are still basking in the glow, perhaps you wished the day would never end, or perhaps like most of us real life begins again and the glow of love and the struggle to continue to love, daily persists. Wherever you are this post-Valentine's day, the Lord is not far from us, in fact His act of love will have me basking in the glow for all of eternity. As I struggle to love (truly love) those around me daily, it is He who bears the mark of my sin, He who forgives, He who restores, He who loves me with an everlasting love . . . even though this heart of mine is cold as ice, He comes in and chisels it away, melts the ice and leaves it glowing. . . so this Valentine's Day and always there is One who loved you before the foundation of the world, before conception, before you found out who you were, He knew you, He loved you, He died for you, as it is written, "Greater love hath no man than this. . . "


1 Corinthians 13

"Love is not rude"

What our culture says: Be who you are and let other people deal with it, being overly opinionated is valued.

The truth: Being who we are can clash with others, it can hurt others, it can seek our own gain over others therefore being who we are should not triumph over being who He created us to be. Following Him should precede our desire to make ourselves known. As for being overly opinionated as you all know I fall right into the fray with this one, and so I am often struck with reality, that my opinion is not as important as someones feelings. Oopps. . . Love continues to be a struggle.

"Love is not self seeking"

What our culture says: Your number 1, Seek your own success and glory.

The truth: Uhhh after the glow wears off of our golden heals as we accept another empty award don't we feel well empty? ? Seeking our own success just does not make sense. What are we left with but worthless idols that do not fill. Yet we chase ourselves, run around in circles, and attempt to make ourselves into someone we are not all for the world to clap. . . eventually we realize that applause is out of rote not because someone really thinks we are that great. Eventually the gold glitter wears off. . . where are we and who are we when we seek others?. . . we are free. God created us to serve others so as we fulfill this we are filled. . . like overflowing cups we don't understand why it makes us feel so good to help the homeless, clothe the needy, feed the poor, it is because that is who we are. Perhaps, we should trade our gold heels for a serving spoon and experience real love.

"Love is not easily angered"

What our culture says: If you feel it, express it. If someone does not do what you want you have the right to be angry.
The truth: This is where love gets gritty. . . or maybe that was two points ago. . . anyhow it is hard to love when a person provokes us to anger which for some can be difficult to do for others very easy, nevertheless there is nothing natural about love when you are being provoked, it either comes from above or not. Love is an endless battle against self. . . perhaps not what you will hear from your Hallmark card instead I bet it goes something like this. . . you are. . . well in reality you are a sinner, you are difficult to deal with (in the mornings for me) fill in the blank for you,  You forget to complete tasks that others depend on you for. . . Real love will love you when you are at your worst. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, rebelling against him. Real love picks you up when you fall, Real love wipes away the grit, and says no matter how hard this is, I am with you.

"Love keeps no record of wrongs"

What our culture says: You mess with me once you will do it again. .

The truth: Let us ignore our own horrid track records for the moment. .  . or can we?  ? We also bear the weight of sin and to point out in others what is apparent in ourselves is hypocrisy. To judge people based on mistakes or failures is just not adequate. It makes no sense, unless we also use that measurement on ourselves then we would never accept the award mentioned above. I don't think this is optional for real love it is required. If you constantly remind someone of how they failed and what they did wrong then you create exactly what you harp upon . . . an environment in which love does not exist. Love thrives in failure because that is the garden in which it grows, that is its home, that is where honesty is. . .

I hope this study has been helpful we will return next week with glimpses of love. . .  a sharing of real life love stories, poetry, and tidbits of goodness. I pray some of you would feel the urge to share your own story about love, your own testimony, your marriage story, or something of the like before this study passes us by. . . I would love to hear it as I am sure our readers would too.