And what about others in my life? Do I always love them? In my heart I love people, but do I show them I love them? Am I always kind? Do I always think of them before myself? Do I show people grace and mercy? Do I help others at the drop of a hat? Again…I wish I could say “yes” to all these as well!
1 Corithians 13:1-7 (The Message) says: If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 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. 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.
Whoa…I fail at all of these! It’s plain and simple to me…I can’t love God and others in any of these ways on my own, no matter how much I try. I just can’t do it. The only way I can even possibly come close to any of these is by asking God to help me. Only through His strength can I love Him and others in the way He wants me to…in these ways listed above.
I see all the ways I fail at loving…just thinking about yesterday, and all the ways I failed in just one day is humbling! As I put my focus on loving better, loving greater, loving more…I’m going to print this scripture passage out and put it on my bathroom mirror. Maybe if I start my day reading these words of God’s love, it will help me. And as I have my quiet time in the mornings, I need to pray for God to help me love Him and others in the ways He wants me to. I’m so thankful He loves me in all these ways, and I want to love in these ways as well!
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