Love Does Not Boast...

Love does not boast. The NKJV says: "Love does not parade itself." The KJV says: "Love vaunteth not itself." Another version says: "Love does not brag." Boast means to speak of oneself with exaggeration and excessive pride; to be self-admiring. Brag implies exaggerated claims and often an air of insolent superiority. To vaunt one's self is to say or tell things which are intended to give others a high opinion of one's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits, courage, descent, and wealth. Because love is not self-promoting; it has no need to boast. Love lavishes praise on others and does not focus on self. Scripture says that because we are saved by grace, no man can boast. With God's complete, undeserved, unconditional love; boasting is excluded. Let another's lips praise you and not your own. Love does not boast.

Love Does Not Envy...

Love does not envy. Envy, the green-eyed monster. Envy and jealousy are both similar. Envy means to feel resentful or painful desire for another's advantages, successes, or possessions. Envy is covetousness and leads to discontent and insecurity. Envy looks and focuses on the other person and desires what that person is or what he or she has. Envy eats away at you, consumes you, and is very destructive. Love does not envy because it is not about oneself, but about the wellbeing of others. Rather than being insecure, love desires the blessings and successes of others. Pure love has eyes that see what another has acheived or possesses and rejoices for that person. Let us allow God's love to fill us so much that we do not view ourselves as deprived or lacking, but instead are delighted in the blessings of others. Our lives do not consist in the things we possess but in the fact that we are loved completely and unconditionally. Love does not envy.

Love is Kind...

Love is kind. I once heard someone say that you could test how well you demonstrate God's love by substituting your own name for the word love in the description of the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13. For example, "Mark is patient", "Mark is kind", etc. Wow, That's tough. We would like to believe that we are always patient and kind but it seems that many times we all fall short. Don't let that discourage you. Some other words the dictionary uses to describe kind are: tender, considerate, helpful, benevolent, helpful, friendly, generous, warm-hearted, compassionate, and understanding. Love is kind because God is kind. His kindness toward us is so great. It is that kindness that gives us the confidence to approach Him even when we have failed. It's His kindness that leads us to repentance. Through the power of God's love, we too, should exhibit kindness. Kindness shown through our attitude, our words, and our behavior. Be kind to those you meet everyday. Our world is starving for acts and words of kindness. Be kind today because love is kind.

Love is Patient...

One of the best ways to begin to understand love is by considering it's attributes or characteristics. Paul begins the list of some of these by saying that love is patient. The New King James Version uses the words love suffers long. The dictionary defines patient as: Bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like; Tolerant, understanding. What a great expression of love. We can often be impatient, intolerant, easily annoyed and lose our cool. Love is patient. God is love and God is patient. Scripture says He is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He puts up with so much from us. Through His love that has been poured into our hearts, we too; can learn to be patient. Next time you find yourself with a short fuse, wanting to give up, quit, or even complain in annoyance and anger; remember, - Love is Patient.

What is Love?

Defining 'love' can be difficult. Love is perhaps one of the most misused words in our vocabulary. We use the word love to describe things like foods, movies, music, pets as well as people we care about. The dictionary defines love as: 1) A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities. 2) A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance. 3) Sexual passion or intercourse. As you can see, it really depends on how or in what context it (the word love) is used. The original Greek word used for love in 1 Corinthians 13 (The Love Chapter) is agape. This word means dear affection or in other word selfless, unconditional, sacrificial, divine love. We can only really begin to understand what love is by the way it is shown in the following verses which we will be looking at in the few days. Love is action, defined by what it does, (and sometimes by what it does not), by how it is expressed or shown. God is Love and His Love has been poured into our hearts as His Children and we are to learn it's full dimensions and grow into a full demonstration of that dear love. Keep your heart open as we discover much more about true love.

If I Have Not Love...

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 - "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." Love makes all the difference. It doesn't matter how eloquent your speech is, without love, it's just noise. Your knowledge, intelligence, and gifts mean nothing without love. Spirituality minus love is nothing. Giving of goods or even of self outside of the context of love amounts to nothing. Being holy or religious is meaningless without love. We must have love. Love is essential. Love is what gives our words and actions value. Love is that important. We will explore the Biblical meaning of love in the next few days. Be Loved and Love.

Love Is The Greatest!

This month of February, we are going to share thoughts on the subject of Love from 1 Corinthians 13 as well as other various passages of Scripture. 1 Corinthians 13:13 - "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love is the greatest first and foremost because God is the greatest, and God is Love! We talk much about love, sing songs about love, long to love and be loved; yet, we don't really understand love from God's perspective. God is the essence and source of love so I think it would be good to consider his thoughts on the subject. I invite you to join me in the next few weeks as we explore the dimensions of God's Great Love. I believe your heart will be filled and overflow as you discover the many facets of the greatest of all -- Love.