This is Love Never Fails - Day 14

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.


LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Keep on loving first, before you attempt any other solution to a problem. Keep on loving those who are unloveable. Kee pon loving, because - when it is truly love as described in this passage - it never fails!

This is Love Keeps Going - Day 13

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.

LOVE ALWAYS PERSEVERES

This means it never gives up. It keeps going, believing the best. Like a marathon runner ready to hit the wall but endures, love always perseveres!

This is LoveAlways Hopes - Day 12

Today's celebration is Day 12, which is also the day I celebrate my Valentine Baby daughter, who turns 15 this year. We call her our Valentine baby, because that is the day we got to bring her home from the hospital and begin our lives together. She is growing into a beautiful Christian woman, and it's been fun to watch her blossom. Happy birthday, my dear! I know God has a lot planned for you.

Now, there is also another part of love to explore today from 1 Cor. 13.

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.

LOVE ALWAYS HOPES

When hopes are dashed, love is crushed and broken. Love always hopes! There is always s knowing that your hope will not disaapoint you!

This is Love Always Trusts - Day 11

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.

LOVE ALWAYS TRUSTS!

When trust is broken, this is not love. This isn't to say that it is beyond repair and cannot be forgiven. It depens on circumstances, of course. But, where there is love, there is trust. There is honesty and no fear.

This is Love Is A Safe Place - Day 10

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.

LOVE ALWAYS PROTECTS!

Like a knight in shining armour, love always protects. Where there is true love, you are safe.

This goes far beyond physical protection. Your thoughts, your dreams, your confessions, your longings are all safe to be shared with those who truly walk in love.

love is a safe place!

This is Love Rejoicing With Truth Not Evil - Day 9

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.

LOVE DOES NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL BUT REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH!

There is no room for sin and evil in love. There is, however, a lot of rejoicing when the truth is revealed!

Love involvees a lot of joy and does not focus on the faults of the one he or she loves.

This is Love Forgets Wrongs - Day 8

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.

LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS!

You know that list we keep tucked away in our memories so as to protect our heart? Well, that's not love. Love keeps no record of when it is wronged. This doesn't mean you stay in an abusive relationship and call it forgiveness. It is much deeper than that.

Love isn't petty, digging up old pains, hurts, and scars when the other person thought it was long forgotten. You might say that love is forgetful, but only forgets the bad. Maybe that's why long-term marriages often include two people telling of only the wonderful days of their lives together. They have kept no record of the wrongs!

This is Love Without Anger - Day 7

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.

LOVE IS NOT EASILY ANGERED!

Whew boy! This is a big one for me. When someone hurts me or says unkind words about those I love, my first response is defense and anger. According to the description of love - My angry response is not love. Even though I would like to think it is righteous anger and for the right reasons, the truth is that it probably happens like a knee-jerk reaction to a hurtul memory.

Love is slow to anger. Anger is not the first emotion we feel when we are in love.

This is Love Not Selfish - Day 6

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.

LOVE IS NOT SELF-SEEKING

When we love, we lay down our own needs and desires on behalf of putting others first. True love stops seeking its own pleasure and begins to focus on meeting the needs of the one he or she loves.

Love isn't selfish.

This is Love Day 5 - No Dishonor

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.

LOVE DOES NOT DISHONOR OTHERS!

To understand what dishonor is, it's important to first understand what honor is:

Honor is high respect, esteem, It is to fulfill an obligation or keep a promise or agreement.

To dishonor is to bring shame or disgrace to fail to observe an agreement.

In America, we do not live in a culture of honor like perhaps Japan or other countries do where honor is the most important consideration. Maybe, thinking of a knight from long ago would bring the full picture into understanding.

As we walk in love with others, we keep our word and show respect.

This is Love Day 4 - No Boasting No Pride

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.

Love is not about pride.
Love is not about touting your own accomplishments or good traits or even arrogance

Let that sink in.

Let others say praises and accolades about you instead of yourself.

When it comes to pride, LOVE IS NOT PROUD!

The word Pride is often misunderstood. So, what does that mean? It means:

Feeling Deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions.

It's not just a sense of respect or honor. It's borderline arrogance and a sense that you accomplished it - Almost a praising of yourself instead of giving God the glory.


It is having or showing a high or excessively high opnion of oneself of one's importance.

So, if love does not boast and is not proud, what is it?

It is humble and speaks well of others before yourself. It is not shoving yourself or things you enjoy in someone else's face or against their will. It is considering the pleasures of others over the pleasures of yourself.

This is Love Day 3 - It Does Not Envy

It is Day 3 of This is Love, 14 days describing love.

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.

Love does not envy!

To envy is to want, with great passion, something that belongs to someone else - Something that is not yours. In a sense, it is desiring to steal that which is not ours.

When we think of envy, we might think of jealousy. However, envy goes beyond just feeling jealous. Envy is believing that you have been wronged because someone else has been blessed.

Love does not envy!

Love is knowing that we came into this world with nothing and nothing is owed to us.

Envy is an extremely self-absorbed emotion that often is acted upon, never for the good of anyone. When you act upon feeling envy, you become angry or arrogant. You feel as if you are entitled to whatever it is you want.

Love does not envy!

There is a lot to be said about being content, happy with what you have. Contentment is far from complacency. Contentment means that whatever your lot is in life, you are happy. This doesn't mean that you don't try to better your situation or change things. But, it does mean that you are not changing or "bettering" yourself at the expense of someone else's possessions or gifts.

Envy can lead to some damaging actions. It can even sometimes take on the form of depression, feeling as if we will never be good enough and becoming inwardly angry that we were not given the talents, looks, money, or whatever, that someone else has. God has created each of us with unique and special characteristics and talents. Love, reaches in and uncovers this. It doesn't try to take it from others, and it doesn't sink into a deep depression because you feel you don't measure up.

Love does not envy!

Be happy when you see others blessed, and be happy with who you are!

This is Love - Kindness Day 2

1 Corinthians 13 goes like this... 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 hope, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Today, Day 2, of This is Love focuses on the LOVE IS KIND portion of that scripture.

Many are familiar with Random Acts of Kindness, which was basically a campaign started years ago to start people being kind to each other for no reason other than, well love. There is even a website dedicated to RAK Random Acts of Kindness, and a week set aside (Feb. 12-18 this year) to show kind acts. These are all nice things, but Kindness for God's people should be a daily occurrence. It should be a defining character trait of a Christian.

What does it mean to be kind?

Kindness is loving instead of jumping to judgment
Kindness is taking your time to stop and help
Kindness is stopping yourself from a knee-jerk reaction of returning evil for evil

Kindness can look like a child giving a puppy a home, a "secret Santa" paying for someone's bill, or someone opening the door for others.

Kindness is a selfless act. It is putting others' needs above your own without complaining.

If you read only the news or your Twitter feed, Kindness seems to be rare nowadays. Instead, everyone quick to lash out and speak up for what angers them. If you are a child of God, let's change that. While there are times to speak up for those who cannot, kindness is often done in quietness.

Show someone kindness today. Practice kindness. When you feel sad, replace that feeling with a random act of kindness. When you feel angry, be kind.

This is Love Series - Love is Patient - Day 1

Known as The Love Chapter, portions of 1 Corinthians 13 spells out 14 characteristics of what true love is made of. Starting today, through Valentine's Day, I'm going to take one characteristic of love at a time each day!

The full passage goes like this:

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.

The first characteristic of love, how you know it's really love, is that LOVE IS PATIENT!

What does patient mean?

I've heard a lot growing up how you should never pray for patience because God will provide many opportunities for you to use your patience. I don't know about that. That always worried me and made me sort of mistrust our Lord. But, i do know that patience is part of what makes up love. Keep in mind that by defining what LOVE is, the Bible is simultaneously giving us a pictures of who God is, since God is LOVE.  So, God is patient.

One thing I've word a lot about latey is tolerance. While patient is defined as accepting or tolerating, patience goes beyond tolerance.

Patience doesn't rush. It's waiting whle yourr 5 year old slooooooooowly sounds out words as he or she is trying to learn to read or sloooooooowly tries to tie those shoelaces while you are racing against time to get somewhere.

Patience is helping an elderly parent or grand parent as they frustratingly become unable to do things they've done all of their lives.

Patience is to not shame or hurry someone else along.
Patience is to not hurry along something you want to happen in your life.

Patience is not dilly-dallying or simply taking it slow, but it is allowing others the freedom to move and learn at their own pace.

Watch a big tough football player style of man gently care for a newborn or a tiny toddler, and you'll get an idea of the patient part of love.

Some synynonyms of patientce include:

calm
forgiving
gentle
quiet
tolerant
long-suffering
understanding
accommodating
compossed
easy-going
enduring
evevn-tempered
forbearing
imperturbable
indulgent
lenient
meek
mild
mild-tempered
perservering
persistent
philosophical
resigned
serene
stoic
submissive
tranquil
uncomplaining
unruffled
untiring

Some antonyms of patience include:

agitated
loud
rough
troubled
violent
wild
frustrated
impatient
intolerant
unwilling

This Is Love Series Feb 1-14

Join me for a deep look at what love is, based on the LOVE Chapter in the Bible, 1 Cor. 13. The series will begin February and run through Valentine's Day. I can't wait for the love to begin!

Will you join me?