The countdown is at hand, but I am not sure I am ready to
leave yet. A few months ago, I would have given anything to just leave this
crazy life and return to normalcy. This past month has taught me a lot about
love and how it should be applied to my life. I love my squad and my team and I
am not sure how it is going to be possible to adjust back into life without
them around all of the time. I am going to share a very common verse with you
about love and ask questions for you to answer.
Love
is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does
not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As
for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but
when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke
like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a
man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face
to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully
known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of
these is love.
(1Co
13:4-13 ESV)
AND
Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born
of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God
is love.
(1Jn
4:7-8 ESV)
These are the scriptures that I have been meditating on for
the last month. Let me break them down for you to make it a little simpler.
LOVE IS:
Patient
Kind
Not conceited
Not rude
Not envious
Not boastful
Not selfish
Not Irritable
Not resentful
Not poke fun
Rejoices in truth
Bears, believes, hopes, endures all things
LOVE
NEVER ENDS
Think over that list and see what
seems the most difficult to you… I look at this list and see that I fail at
almost every one of these on this list.
Now, let’s look at the second
scripture:
“Beloved, let us love one
another, because the love is from God… Whoever does not love, does not love
God.”
Harsh… This is a very hard truth.
If we don’t have the love that is described in 1 Cor. 13, than we don’t love
God. Wow!
Question #1
If you could change 1 Corinthians
13’s definition of love, what would it look like?
Question #2
How can your life be different if
you did love like 1 Cor. 13?
Question #3
What things in our life would be
easier if you loved more? What specific areas.
Question #4
Why can we love one person more than the next?
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you,
(Mat 5:44 ESV)
We
have high expectations on what Love is and how to live it out. Every day I am
reminded that I need to love those who don’t like me, love those who are
testing my patience, love those who tick me off and try to love God in
everything. That is a very hard thing to do and that is where Grace comes in.
Grace helps us to love one another.
Pray
with me into these scriptures as we try to love and extend grace to one
another. We will all fail everyday, but, we have a God who’s love never fails.
I
would love to hear your answers to the questions and any insight that you have
on these two scriptures.
