A lot of times we say we love Jesus, but I’m not so sure that is the truth. When we define love according to the scriptures and not our emotions, we see a very different love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 tells us that “love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.” Yet, sometimes our love doesn’t display this at all. Can we really say we are patient with God? Let alone kind to him.
Our Kind of Love
We become impatient when we don’t get our prayers answered right away. We slack off talking to him like he wronged us. Or better yet, we forget to tell him good morning because we have more important things to do.
Smashed And Broken Heart Pictures – Pictures
We become selfish with our time. We When he speaks to us we brush him off and tell him through our actions that we are just too busy to talk to him right now. We rationalize since we do so much for everyone else we are doing for God. After all, he did say that if we do it for the least of these we have done it onto him. But when do we take time out for him? When does he get his time alone with us?
We pray to him and if we don’t get what we asked for when we think we should get it we become angry. We get sick. Our love ones die. We blame him because he has the power to do anything.
Love Involves Truth, Trust, and Hope
“Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth. Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures. Love never ends; but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 CJB)
We say we trust God, but do we really? Do we believe his word over everyone else’s word? Do we trust in him and anchor our hope in him when everything else is going crazy? I’m not talking about the occasional discouragement. I’m talking about us needing to get man’s approval for everything God tells us to do because we trust a man more than we trust God. I’m talking about waiting for a man to give us the okay to do something when God had already given us our marching orders. I’m talking about believing God when everyone else thinks we’re crazy when we don’t take their advice.
Love Involves Protection and Endurance
Now let’s talk about bearing up and enduring. Do we protect the Word of God? Or do we let someone misquote scripture without correcting them? Do we remain firm in what we believe about God or do we waver in how we see him? Are we afraid to speak about him in front of non-believers? Do we endure sound doctrine? Or do we only want to hear the parts that sound good to us?
Love Lasts Forever
Love causes a person to give of herself unconditionally. Loving unconditionally means there can never be a reason to stop loving; therefore, love never ends. There isn’t anything a person can do to make her stop loving. Love causes her to trust and hope when nothing else remains. It causes her to walk in truth and it causes her to cover and protect the ones she loves.
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
How much do we love God? How much do we love his word, both the written and the living (Jesus Christ)?
Prayer Time
Our Heavenly Father, who is in heaven,
Help us to love you with a pure heart. Help us to love you with all our being and help us to show you love as well as others.
In Yeshua the Messiah’s name, Amen.
Scripture Reference
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40 KJV)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” (2 Timothy 4:3 KJV)
