Our lives
can truly be so much more than we ever hoped or dreamed when we make God the
central part of our life, and focus on Him, at all times.
I also
studied love. Now the first thing most
people, including myself, think of when we hear the word love, is the love
between a husband and wife, or parent and child. But, when we look at how the Bible portrays
love, we see it is much more than that.
John 15:12 My
command is this: Love each other as I
have loved you.
John 15:17 This
is my command: Love each other.
Matt 5:44 But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you.
Romans 13:9-10 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do
not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and whatever other commandment there
may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the
law.”
I Cor 16:14 Do everything in love.
Gal 5: 13-14 You my brothers, were called to be
free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single
command: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.”
Eph 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be
patient, bearing with one another in love.
James 2:8 If you really keep the royal law found
in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
I Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by
obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers; love one
another deeply, from the heart.
I Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers over a multitude of sins.
I John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the
beginning: We should love one another.
I John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we
also ought to love one another.
2 John 1:5-6 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a
new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love; that we walk in obedience
to his commands. As you have heard from
the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
It is so amazing
how many verses in the Bible command us to love one another. I
never knew it was
mentioned so many times until I actually started going through it and writing
them all down. I could’ve filled pages
and pages with verses that command us to love one another! And it’s a command! He didn’t say “Oh, if you feel like it today,
it would be nice if you could love one another” or “If you have time, could you
also love one another?” No, he commands
us to “love one another.” If we know
Christ as our Savior and have made Him Lord of our life, the most important
goal in our life must be to obey and honor the Lord. We do this by keeping his commands.
So, we know
that God has commanded us to love one another, but what does “love” look
like? How do we love each other in the
Biblical sense of the word?
When most of us hear I Cor 13: 4-8, the “Love is patient,
love is kind” verses, the picture that comes to mind is how love should be
between a husband and wife. We hear it
read at most weddings…it was read at my wedding! But, when you read those verses,
instead of thinking of your spouse, or your future, unknown spouse, I want you
to think of your neighbor down the street, the stranger you meet in the grocery
store, the cashier waiting on a long line of customers, the person who sits at
the desk next to you, the parent or student who you talk to on the phone, or
meet in person. Think about how God is
telling us that we are to love that person, and what that love looks like.
“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. Love never fails.”
God is
saying that is how we are to treat every single person that we come into
contact with. Not just our spouses, or
our children, or our best friends, but every person. And there are no exceptions! God does not say that this doesn’t apply if
the other person is not being kind or patient or humble. No, God says we are to do this regardless of
how we are being treated. It is so contrary
to what our society teaches, but that is what makes it so beautiful! God has called us to be different than the
world, to be a shining light in the darkness that others might come to know Him
by what they see in us. What an awesome
privilege – to be able to bring others to Christ simply by loving them as God
has commanded us to. It is not easy, it
does not come naturally to us as imperfect humans, but with God, we can do all
things. I would like to challenge you,
as a way of honoring God and showing Him that he has 1st place in
your life, that you would join me in striving to live out I Cor. 13 in our
everyday, daily lives. Not only will we
be sharing the love of Christ in a tangible, real way, but God will give us
more than we could ever hope or imagine as we surrender our lives to His will
and ways.
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