Love - February 14, 2015

 

 

1 Corinthians 13  (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. 2 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. 3 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.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 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.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Happy Valentine's Day  - I am currently flying solo, not crazy about the situation but it is what it is; the blessing in my situation is that I am living and loving the word of God. Since it is Valentine's Day I wanted to look at the thing we call love as opposed to what God says love is

Proverbs 18:22   “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.”

If you’re like me, then you are a person who knows that God has ordained a helpmate and a partner for you;  and  every time you delve into a  Bible verse, you get a new revelation out of it, no matter how many times you read it.  I discovered the French version of this verse and embraced it because it really spoke to how I viewed the verse ; it says that whoever finds a wife, finds HAPPINESS;  As an added bonus, you gain favor from the Lord. Hey! that's just like gravy on a rich meal.   

 Guess what, while letting that verse wash over me I was also doing a bit of  soul-searching, the verse completely shattered my belief that I could remain who I was; repeating behaviors and being static in my ways....stuck in "love me as who I am"

I started asking myself  what should my behavior be like in a Godly relationship.  I had to be radically transformed in my thoughts and  behavior, which is not easy without the help of the Holy Spirit.   At times I felt like I was destroying the very core of my being and that I wasn't going to make it.  In task  of discovering what is my role as a Godly partner  in a relationship, I've found one thing to be extremely essential and an absolute requirement:  LOVE YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER.

Ephesians 5:25  ” Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her ”