Love

I keep talking to people who are in search of love. Quite often many of them look in the wrong places. They look in the trash and gutters of life for love. Well for those people looking for love I have a tip of what to look for to find that special someone. It has been written for years they are the traits of the perfect person for you:

Love is patient and kind;
Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I heard a few years back if you can replace the word Love with the name of someone you will find one who exemplifies love. But before you go out and start putting names in this bible verse look at yourself. Do you exemplify love? So often we tend to run around trying to find Mr. or Mrs. Right when we ourselves are wrong. If you are not happy with yourself, I guarantee you will not be happy with someone else regardless of how perfect they are.

Skipping the romantic aspect of love (sorry for those who wanted more…..saving the rest for another day…lol) as Christians we must strive to exemplify love. After all if we believe in Christ his greatest teaching is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Let’s not be fooled into thinking love means being comfortable all of the time. Let’s look at the text. It states love does not rejoice at wrong. When you openly see others doing wrong you should not participate or rejoice in it. But I like the text statement stating that Love “does not insist on its own way”. You can tell people what they do is wrong but you should never force it upon them. I am certain they already know they are doing wrong and they don’t need a sermon from you.

The last statement is profound. Love bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things. Sometimes we will have to bear uncomfortable situations but in the end God’s glory will be seen. For all of you out there who want to better yourselves join me in saying:

I will be patient and kind;
I will not be jealous or boastful; I will not be arrogant or rude
I will not insist on my own way; I will not be irritable or resentful;
I will not rejoice at wrong, but will rejoice in the right.
I will bear all things, believe all things, and hope all things.

I guarantee you nothing but happiness if you follow those statements and God will truly be seen within your life, and blessings will abundantly flow from you exemplifying love.