Starting a new sermon series soon and would like your help. What is love to you? What does it look like? How does it act? Honest responses only please. Optimists, romantics, realists, pessimists, and cynics all are welcome. Be anonymous if you'd like. Thanks
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
ReplyDeleteLove revives the heart.
ReplyDeleteLove restores what has (or who has) been forgotten.
Love brings one back to the place for which he/she was intended.
This is what Love always seeks to do.
It's not what some would call love - who are quick to flee when things get rough or they loose sight of love's source ... the One who revives them, the One who restores them, the One who brings them back to the place for which they were intended.
For a long time, I didn't think I was old enough to understand "love." Then I reached the age I thought I would magically grasp it.. But no light bulb has appeared above my head. :) I know that love isn't just emotion or feelings. It's a choice. I don't believe in falling in love, as much as I do growing in love. I know that I'm incapable of loving on my own.. The only love that I can demonstrate is through the love I've been given by the Lord. I'm realizing that my definition of love has to come back to the Cross or it is empty of meaning. Love is to choose to smile at a person who has really hurt me. Love is to meet the need of someone who may really frustrate me sometimes. Love is to live out 1 Cor. 13:4-8 with my neighbors and my enemies. To be patient in the checkout line in Wal-Mart. To be kind to the least kind. Not to be envious when life is, by the world's terms, going really well for someone else.. and not so well for me. Not to be boastful when an accomplishment is credited to my name.. because it really belongs to the Lord's. Not to be proud because I'm living for the glory of One far greater than me. Not to be self-seeking because I'm supposed to look after other's needs, not just my own. Not to be easily angered when I have the "right" to be, but to be gentle and slow to speak. Not to keep a record of wrongs, to hold grudges, against brothers and sisters in Christ. Not to delight in evil when temptation arises, but to rejoice with the truth. To always protect - not backstabbing those I've been told to love. To always trust in a God who's always faithful. To always have hope because there's more than this world. To always persevere in the name of my Savior, who endured the cross. To never fail in extending love because my God never fails to extend it to me.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there's a large part of my mind that associates the word "love" with the man who will someday ask for my hand in marriage. In that vain, I feel like I still have a lot to learn and alot to discover. I've never been "in love." I admit that there are some days when I wonder if the love in fairytales and chick flicks exists in the real world. But I believe the only way I'll discover what it means to love my future husband - not crush hard and fall hard for him - is to love and be loved by my Creator. To understand, as much as I can, His perfect love for me.. And, because of His love, to love Him back. To practice loving everyone who's in my path with patience, kindness, and humility now.. And someday, I'll be able to love him with the attributes of 1 Cor. 13:4-8 - not just with butterflies in my stomach that will fade..
Love...is selfless. It is not about me at all. Not about how I feel or what I want or what I'm even able to do...it is ALL about others. It is about seeing them through the eyes of Christ - which without Him we are incapable of doing.
ReplyDelete"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
Love...unifies. It brings unity because I am striving for the Lord's plan in another's life alongside of them. I am not against them - but for them. "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:14
Perfect love...drives out fear. Since we know that God is love (1 John 4:8) we know that He drives out fear. He is Love. That's what we should be seeking, because when we are seeking Him we are becoming more like him...more like Love. And we are able to love others as He does - or at least we are striving to do so.
It is something more than a feeling. Something more than an event. It is a passion that is deeply rooted in oneself causing one to move or stand beyond what one could do on their own. Love allows one to undergo trials / tribulations/ joys/ tears/ and life altering-gut-wrentching heart ache. Love sacrifices for the greater good. True love is rooted in the Truth…true love is binded with The One who loves the most. Heroes lay down their lives for Love. Heroes are freed by loving others. Love never fails.
ReplyDeleteLove is showing your wife who is over 7,500 miles away that you miss her…that you love her. Love was not the amount of boxes or endless letters that she would send him in the mail, but love is the passion that you hoped would fill your spouse when they opened those boxes, and received those bouquets of flowers. Love dangled to every phone call, every email, every card. Love was treasuring those inside jokes and I love yous. Love was planning that special 2 week RR and life after deployment. Love was wearing your knees out so much you never realized all the colors of your carpet. Love was hoping for that positive test. Love is a cord of 3 strands. Love is the image of 2 who become 1. Love was dropping to my knees feeling like my heart was ripped out knowing that my best friend has lost her best friend…her husband. Their love was a commitment to death do them part. Love was helping a fallen- a wounded comrade at the expense of your own life. Love is clinging to the One Love who knows exactly what it’s like to suffer the loss of one so close. You see love moves us. Love changes us. We are more than we could be when we choose to love abundantly than sparingly.