1 If I speak in the tongues[a] 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,[b] 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.
I truly believe that LOVE can fix any problem, any situation, any division, any hurt, any jealousy, any anything. And for that reason, I want it to be said of me that I love and that I love deeply. I mean this in so much more than a romantic way, although I, one day, hope to be and stay madly, deeply in love with a man who will become my husband. Now that my disclaimer is out of the way...I believe that with love, we can do anything. Love is able forgive sins (1 Peter 4:8 - love covers a multitude of sins), mend relationships (Proverbs 17:9 - he who covers an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends) and reveal Jesus to the world (John 13:35 - By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another). With love, we could start a revolution. This world is angry and hurting and full of so much hate. They need to see Christians full of God's love for the sinner and for each other!
I read somewhere once (I don't remember, so please don't ask. lol) that you can substitute Jesus' name for all the times they say love and it still is 100% truthful. Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind...etc etc. And how true is that! Jesus always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus NEVER fails. And if we are to be like Jesus (which we are), I believe that we should also be able to substitute our own name in place for love...It'd go something like this (with your own name, of course lol), Natasha is patient, Natasha is kind. Natasha does not envy. Natasha does not boast, Natasha is not proud...etc etc. Wow! When you look at it that way, you begin to see all the areas that you need to work on. You begin to see that, hey, maybe I'm not loving as well as I think I am!
So I challenge you today to swap LOVE for your name...And then in every instance were it becomes a false statement, pray that God would make you more like him. Take steps to make yourself more patient, kind, humble, trusting, faithful, etc etc. Before you think that I'm trying to bash you and make you feel bad...realize that the beauty in this method is that it doesn't exclude any of us from work because NONE of us are perfect. Yes, maybe you've got kindness down, but you realize that you aren't so patient at times or maybe you're not self-seeking but you're really bad about holding onto past wrongs...
We ALL need to work at being more like Jesus...and since Jesus is love (1 John 4:8 - Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love), love is good place to start!
