Archive for the ‘Love’ Category
1Corinthians 13:8 “Love never fails.”
Today is the last installment in our “love exploration”. It is fitting that it ends with saying, “love never fails”.
1 John 4:7 says. “God is Love”, if God is love and love is God, then love itself is immortal. This is why love will never die. Because God will never cease, love will always continue.
In a mother’s world, I understand this unfailing love. As I have raised my three children I have had good and bad times with them. Even when I went through the worst times with them as teens, my love for them never failed. I couldn’t turn my love off like a water faucet.
I am so glad God doesn’t turn His love off for us. Even though at times we may deserve it, His patience and kindness over rides the situation and “long-sufferingly” puts up with us.
Thank You, Dear Lord, for this exploration in what it means to truly love others.
It is a heart issue, as my dear friend and Sunday School partner, Amanda, told me.
Please cleanse my heart so that I can love others in all situations.
In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
1Corinthians 13:7 (Love) “…endures all things…”
After reading the commentaries and spending time in prayer, this is what I’ve figured out ‘enduring all things’ means:
We are to hold our faith closely and dearly as we travel this journey called life. When affliction, insult or other calamity comes our way, we are to refer to the beginning of the passage I’ve been exploring this month –
1Corinthians 13:4 & 5 “Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;”
And above all, we are promised that no matter what comes our way,
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,” Romans 8:28.
We cannot say why we are to endure some things, however if we ‘keep the faith’ as some say, we can endure with grace and gratefulness.
1Corinthians 13:7 (Love) “…hopes all things…”
Thank you for your comments and loving words when I ‘tapped out’ yesterday. It helped me a lot. I cannot change the other person who was burning a hole in my mind. I realize now that I can only go forward with my own life. I am hoping they will change, but I choose to stay away until they realize they cannot continue to hurt others with no expectation of accountability. I know I must take care of my health right now and that doesn’t include allowing the stresses of that person into my life.
Today my focus is on my sons. Both took a tough path in life that got them into a bit of trouble. However, as a loving mother’s heart should do, I never lost hope for their return to a life full of good choices and following God. There were some rough years where I was very depressed, watching them make some extremely poor choices. However I clung to the message I felt the Lord give me, years ago, when I heard the still small voice in my chest tell me my sons would be healed.
As the years have unfolded, I believed and hoped in their healings, no matter how difficult their lives became. I have seen my two wonderful sons turn both their lives around. Just like watching a toddler learn to walk, so it is with observing adult children repair their lives. Baby steps at first, falling, and getting back up, then soon I was able to see them walking and toddling. Yes they both have slipped and yes they both have gotten back up again to now run on their own. I’m so very proud of them and blessed to have listened to the Lord’s voice and continued hoping when it didn’t look very promising for either of their futures.
Nobody knows the healing a mother’s love and hope can have for her adult children. I feel God’s love is just as healing to us.
Heavenly Father, please help me plug into Your healing hope
- In ALL matters of life.
1Corinthians 13:7 (Love) “…believes all things…”
Can’t I just ‘tap out’ of this ‘love thing?’ from the commentaries, I get the message that believing all things means to believe others have good intentions. Let me be perfectly honest with you here. There is a life long relationship I’m dealing with that I have MUCH trouble in. I know the Holy Spirit is talking to me about this person. I don’t want to listen. Every time I get close to this person I am hurt deeply – not only by memories that are invoked but also by present meanness that they are so fluent in.
However they don’t get it. When I’ve talked with them about their bad behavior – trust me, I’ve confronted this person on many occasions – they ask me if I’m finished. There is NO remorse for past or current actions. Yet they want to pursue a relationship with me. They continue to be their bad self as they go through their miserable life throwing the love card at me. I do my best to stay away because the stress this relationship causes me actually adds to my physical decline.
Yes it is a BAD relationship. I learned from this relationship that “love” is a four letter word. I learned from this relationship that when others said they loved me, they only wanted to use, hurt or other wise abuse me. I learned from this relationship that love = hurt.
I literally refuse to answer calls from this person; my email is set to delete this person’s messages as soon as they hit my in box. Yes, I avoid this person at all costs for my own sanity and health.
I have spent most of my adult life recovering from this BAD relationship.
So how does love in the Godly term apply here? Would you, my dear readers, please help me with this?
1Corinthians 13:7 (Love) “…bears all things…”
The word ‘bears’ in this context can also be rendered as “support” – supporting others is a huge part of what it means to love.
I’ve always felt that if Jesus was the foundation, how one builds their house is up to them. I taught my children this, explaining that just because one mommy runs her home a certain way that is different from another mommy, doesn’t mean she’s not a mommy. I love all Believing denominations and feel each is special in its own way. Some are so beautiful in their symbolic worship while others just as beautiful in their zeal for education and Bible reading.
In fact, when reading the New Testament I believe on face value the part that says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:8)
Speaking on love himself this month, yesterday my pastor did the most supportive thing I’ve ever seen a pastor do in church. He was talking about what it means to encourage and lift up other believers. He stopped in the middle of service and prayed, asking God to bless the other believing churches in Las Vegas. It was so amazing to be in church as the pastor prayed for the blessing of other churches in the valley! If you want to listen to the sermon it’s here. Click on Agape Week #3.
When I was searching for a church home a few years ago, one of the MAIN reasons I kept going to Grace Point was that I never heard Devin put any other church or denomination down.
What I witnessed yesterday is a true example of how to be a person of God who lifts up, bears all and brings grace to others!
Standing Ovation for Devin Hudson! Awesome message!
Thank you for coming to Sin City, bringing God’s agape love with you!
1Corinthians 13:6 (Love) “…has joy in what is true”
I don’t think most of us have a problem with being joyful in what is true. We all can be joyful when we see others being blessed. How many of us love Extreme Makeover where the family gets a new beautiful house? We rejoice with them and our hearts go out to them. It’s easy being happy for the good that is done to others with a pure heart.
It’s also about rejoicing when it is made evident that others have goodness coming from them. How many times are we brought to tears over an innocent child’s actions out of a pure heart? I read a blog where the mom was handing out allowance. Her young son thought he needed to bring it to his mom and brought a hand full of change. What a pure, sweet heart!
Here’s rejoicing in a true relationship with the Lord, one that is pure of heart, one that knows all good things come from God.
As I finally settle down to blog today, I am thankful for so many things.
I feel so blessed to have been able to spend quality time with a niece who just turned 18 today.
I am SO thankful that the sun came back to the desert! It was only a few weeks we didn’t have sun, but I missed it terribly.
Since going through this ‘love exploration’ as I call it, I am so thankful for discovering what a wonderful family I have. Sometimes we must look within to see what we have on the outside.
I am not the only one who has had to take a journey to find love that was within reach. My friend Lisa at Homespun Simplicity has a beautiful story of how she met her husband. It’s worth the read.
My ‘love exploration’ took me to all kinds of highs and lows this past couple weeks. I found this blog at Do You Weary Like I Do? that really helped me when I was brought keenly aware of my judgment of others. I pray you are blessed by it as much as I was.
Finally, I was healed through a blog that I read at Light Enough To See realizing I’m only in a season in life. I am thankful for both this season and that it will pass!
I am very thankful for each and every one of you who stop by my blog! Thank you for reading and thank you for commenting!
Till Tomorrow, Lord willing -
1Corinthians 13:6 (Love)… “…takes no pleasure in wrongdoing”
After pouring over the commentaries as to what they have to say about these 6 little words, I am again ashamed as to how my own heart ‘takes pleasure in wrongdoing’. Let me explain.
- Yes, I’m guilty of ‘I just KNEW IT!’ feelings when someone I haven’t been too fond of has been caught and also guilty of having that satisfaction that they are now proven evil to the whole world.
- Yes, I’m guilty of feeling utterly fulfilled when I’ve signaled someone they are “number one with a bullet” in traffic after putting up with their idiotic driving; wondering WHERE is the policeman to give this person a ticket, as I pass them by…
- And the one thing I’m most ashamed of is being so giddy when I found out a church I’d been hurt deeply by years ago finally closed. I felt so vindicated, so self righteous. Now the world knew too, that they didn’t deserve to be called a church.
What evil nasty thoughts I have!
But you know what? A heart that has truly been converted over to the Lord only feels sorrow when these things happen not gratified…not self satisfied…not joyful in any way.
It is so fitting that I’d feel deeply aware of my sin and shame today, as it is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, or the 40 days before Easter that many Liturgical churches observe.
I am glad that I’m brought to my knees in shame, because it shows me how much farther I need to grow in the Lord in order to be that person whose heart is truly cleaned and purified before Him.
Dear Lord,
I’m sorry for the error of my thinking, and the self righteousness of my thoughts.
Help me overcome these heart sins so that
I only have heart ache over these kinds of things.
Please continue to cleanse my heart as I go through this exploration of love
in order to come out of this a better person than when I started.
1Corinthians 13:5 (Love)“…takes no account of evil”
- Have you ever stewed over something someone did or said to you?
- Have you ever wondered if someone who did something nice for you had a bad motive behind their actions?
- Have you ever kept score, thinking about how many times someone hurt you?
… Me too, and I am ashamed to admit it.
How far can I make the story “living in Las Vegas, I am more jaded than I should be” spread? I mean, really – maybe that’s my excuse for keeping a hard heart?
I want to cultivate a heart of love within myself that is so governed and influenced by the love of God that I can’t think of evil in others unless it slaps me in the face.
Heavenly Father,
Clean my heart and help me sweep unfounded suspicious thoughts away.
Help me be like You in forgetting the wrongs done to me by others.
Teach me to live “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”
as Jesus said on the cross when He was dying for the sins of the world.
Today we get back to exploring love and it gets kind of touchy (pun intended).
1Corinthians 13:5 (Love)… “is not quickly made angry…”.
Growing up, I had a very cranky grandfather. He was my mother’s step dad to be exact. But he was the only Gramps I knew. He and my Gram helped raise my brother and me. My Gramps also drank… a lot.
I happened to be left handed. He thought that was the sign of the devil. I will leave you to your own thoughts as to what happened if he caught me eating or writing with my left hand. I don’t like to remember the beatings. However, I mention him because he’s who I think about when I think of love that is quickly made angry.
My husband is the direct opposite of my Gramps. In the 29 years we have been married, I have seen his temper ONE time. Yes you read correct. There has only been one time has he shown anger around me. I think that’s why I’ve been able to heal from the abuse, because Rick shows me God’s love, not irritable or conditional love.
I’m so glad that the Lord sent my husband to me in order to show me what His love looks like. I literally never knew this kind of love while growing up. It would be a shame to never know love that is gentle and kind, and slow to anger.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for showing us Your even tempered love.
Help me to pass that on to others as well.
