Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love
does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek
its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not
rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We looked at a portion of
what love looks like based on the description God has given us. Let’s remind
ourselves and then finish applying the rest of this portrait to our actions.
Learn to
think of others first!
Empathize
Serve
others instead of always being served
Surrender your agenda
To really love means interacting with others. Share your life with others
Once again we see the proactive drive of love. Many people use
the terms “shy” and “introvert” to justify a lifestyle that is not open to share with others. A
true introvert is a person that loses energy the more they are around people.
This only means that they need time to rebuild energy after interacting with
groups or individuals. This does not mean they stay to themselves and do not
interact with other human beings. God is called both extrovert and introvert to
community. Real love is willing to take the risk of sharing yourself with
others, be careful of the drive to become a private person… It
usually exposes a lack of willingness to be held accountable and it clearly
shows an unhealthy love for self.
Consider what the Scriptures communicate in how we are to share
ourselves:
John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the
slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,
for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
2 Cor. 7:3
I do not speak to condemn you; for I have said before that you are in
our hearts to die together and to live together.
1 Thess. 2:8
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only
the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
Evaluate your priorities
In this success driven and task oriented world we live in, it
is easy for us to misplace our priorities. Love will always have as its
priority God and other people at the top of its list. “Things” may
be important, but they never take a priority over our relationship to our Lord
and to other human beings in the community. That is one of the dangers of
religiosity, their misplaced priorities have made what should be a vibrant,
living relationship with God and others, nothing more than a perfunctory list
of things that we do that make us feel justified in righteous. Jesus spoke the most
bluntly and harshly about this mentality:
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you
have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and
faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the
former.
Luke 20:46-47 "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk
around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the
most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men
will be punished most severely."
This shows your interested in what a person has to say. There
is no worse experience than to be sharing your heart and the person you are
talking to is looking at their watch, texting on their phone or just looking
around. Eye to eye contact is a very important love language. It communicates a
desire to engage the person that is talking to you. Consider, the God of the
universe listens to us!
Psalm 116:1-2 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he
heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him
as long as I live.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against
those who do evil."
Faithful
Love will be consistent even if it hurts. What that means is
that love will be fully committed to doing the hard things; forgiving no
matter, taking responsibility for mistakes and tough love. Real love is mature
enough to deal with these situations.
Proverbs 11:13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man
keeps a secret.
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend
Luke 16:10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful
also in much
Consider what this picture shows us!
Learn to think of
others first!
Empathize
Serve others instead
of always being served
Surrender your
agenda
Share your life with
others
Evaluate your
priorities
Listen
Faithful
Less Self = this only begins with a willful decision
? Question ?
Are You Working With God
To Produce
His Kind Of Love In You?
Or
Are You Just Thinking It
Will Happen?
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