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.
Easier said than done, yes? But God would never require for us to do something that was impossible or unfair. We can make a checklist of the things we know about love from our reading:
Love:
- suffers long
- is kind
- does not envy
- does not parade itself
- is not puffed up
- does not behave rudely
- does not seek its own
- is not provoked
- thinks no evil
- does not rejoice in iniquity
- rejoices in the truth
- bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
- never fails
We can all identify with some of the things on this list! Every day we need to ask God to help us be more Christlike in our actions, in our speaking, and our relating to others. Before we get up in front of a congregation, we need to check ourselves to be sure that God is pleased with the way we have treated others according to His Word, and not the way we feel that they deserve to be treated. If we have hurt or offended anyone, we are to go to them and make amends before we offer our gifts (Matt 5: 23-24). God is looking at our hearts...what does He see? Love God...Love People!
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