LIFE’S ONE NECESSARY INGREDIENT
The Word assures us that GOD IS LOVE. “He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love.” (I John 4:8) His essence, character and Spirit is LOVE.
According to Jesus Christ, who is the “author and finisher
of our faith,” there is one indisputable evidence of the new birth: “By this
all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Hebrews
12:2 and John 13:35)
So, what are the practical dynamics and daily applications of
truth to achieve genuine, loving relationships?
We need look no further than I Corinthians, chapter 13. [The Message
Bible]
1 If I speak with human
eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a
rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with
power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I
have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m
nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own
to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t
love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I
do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired
speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will
reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God
is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be
canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my
mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left
those infant ways for good.
12 We don’t yet see things
clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long
before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see
it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until
that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of
the three is love.
In the absence of exemplifying
this biblical standard of love, our words of witness are shallow and hollow. Please prayerfully ponder.
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