September 26, 2016 – I Corinthians 13:7

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. I Corinthians 13:7On every page of the God’s Word, we read stories of love, not the watered down, every day love the world talks about. This love is the forever, never ending love God has for us.  How can we not respond to Jesus, the One our God sent because God so loved the world that He gave his One and Only Son?  (John 3:16).I Corinthians 13:4-6 – tells us what true love is all about.  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.Do we have this kind of love in our marriages, with our children, with our neighbors and our enemies?  Francis Chan…Crazy Love…tried this method in knowing whether he loves like Jesus.  When he read, Love is patient, he changed it to: I am patient, I am kind, I am not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  I am not irritable.  I don’t keep a record of being wronged.  I do not rejoice about injustice, but I rejoice whenever the truth wins out.  Praying for patience and kindness to be a part of our lives, gives a beginning on loving like Jesus loves us.I once gave a young couple a wedding gift of these words — later the bride told me that they brought these words out and read them together five times, the first week of marriage.  Another wife, married for 16 years, shared that when there were difficulties in her marriage, she treated to a quiet corner and read these verses over and over.  She learned and is continuing to learn what love is in the eyes of God.How long does this kind of love last?  Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13.  When we learn to love God’s way, that love lasts forever!