12.18.11

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

My Thoughts

We so often think of love as just an overwhelming feeling... like we feel when we fall in love, or when we hold a new baby for the first time.  But, love is a choice.  Love is a decision we make. God commands us to even love our enemy. That for sure is a choice to make,  not an overwhelming feeling we get.  We are to love our neighbors...and of course we are to love our families. Here we are told what love is... patient, kind, not jealous or boastful or proud or rude, Love does not demand it's own way, it is not irritable, love does not keep record of being wronged. love does not rejoice with injustice but when the truth wins out. Love never gives up or looses faith. Love is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. We are called to love everybody. No matter how we feel we are to love.

My pastor's wife said she likes to put her name in the place of the word love to test to see if she is doing what she should...... Jeannie is patient and kind... Jeannie is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jeannie does not demand her own way. Jeannie is not irritable (oops!!!). Jeannie keeps no record of being wronged (oh no!!). Jeannie does not rejoice about in injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins our. Jeannie never gives up (oh no!!). Jeannie never looses faith (getting much better). Jeannie is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance (must work on these things.)

I want to be love at all times... but to do that I must separate it from my feelings and put love into action...make the choice to love at all times. When we do what is right our feeling will follow... so often we have learned to follow our feelings. No wonder we are all messed up and selfish today. We all go about following our feelings.. if we want good feelings we have to do what God ask of us no matter how we feel.  When we are good, good feelings will follow. Life only gets better when we love... these verses tell us just what love really is.