Loving Me, Loving You

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (The Message)
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (NIV)

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

    Many of us have read and heard these verses countless times, but today I thought it would be good to remind ourselves of the true love expressed in them. It is easy to brush over verses that we are familiar with, but when we do that we leave little room for the Holy Spirit to do His work. He can always reveal different aspects of scripture and how they apply specifically to our lives, if we will pay attention. Although this scripture is widely used, it is still so important and poignant. I want to look at it closely.

    As I read all the different attributes of love, I question myself on how I measure up. Am I patient and kind towards others? Do I have envy or pride in my heart? Do I put others down and keep track of their mistakes to make myself feel better? Do I really rejoice with the truth instead of wishing I could live in sin? I love the way The Message says that love "puts up with anything." Am I living in that intense reality?

    These are convicting questions that put most of our realities to shame. I want to change that though. Personally, it helps me to love more when I think about how Jesus loves me. God's love is so relentless and unfathomable. He cares for each one of us individually and knows us better than we know ourselves. He does little things all the time that remind me that He knows and appreciates every detail of my life because of His great love. For example, the other day I was thinking of how I wanted to hear a specific song on the radio, and sure enough, the next song was that one! It made me smile, laugh, and praise Him and His attention to the details of my life. He cares.

    God loved us so much, that He gave His only son to save us. The Father turned His back on the perfection that is His son while He cried out in pain, unjustly dying for OUR sins. That is love. Love is giving and love is sacrifice. Remember how much the Father loves us. Take a moment and just meditate on all that He's done for us out of His abounding love.

John 3:16-18 This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (The Message)

    Now that His incomprehensible love is fresh in our minds, let us transfer that to our lives. Remember today that love is not just a warm feeling you have when you appreciate someone. It is not romance. Love is sincerely wanting the best for others more than you want it for yourself. Love is putting others above you in all things. Love is sacrificing your needs and wants for the sake of others. Love is giving all you have to offer in yourself to another.

    And it can be easy to act that way towards someone who is trying to do the same for you. Sometimes people just make it easy to love them. But can we love someone when they lash out at us? When they ignore us? When they reject us for telling them the truth? When they don't return your affections? That is where true, unconditional, Jesus love steps in. No one will be easy to love all of the time.

    Challenge yourself today. Really evaluate yourself on what the Bible says love is versus what you call love. Chances are there are some discrepancies. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. I want to live in that reality. 

1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love. (ESV)

Mark 12:29-31 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (NIV)

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)

Colossians 3:14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (NIV)

1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (NIV)

1 John 4:18-21There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (NIV)

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (NIV)

1 Peter 4:8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. (NLT)

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. (NIV)

1 John 3:18 let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. (NLT)