1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
 
New Living Translation (NLT)
 
4. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

5. or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

6. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

7.Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every  circumstance.

8. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever.
 
This is a famous verse and yet one very difficult to live because human beings are inherently self-centered with wicked hearts. But since nothing is impossible with God, we are redeemed by His blood and are spiritually changed instantaneously. Unfortunately our soul is not as easily or quickly changed to reflect God’s goodness. When on earth Jesus was the incarnation of God. His life was an example of what godly love is.

This verse describes love as an internal process.  It is something that happens inwardly and manifests outwardly as acts of love.

These love traits are settled within our hearts and become natural responses as we are slowly and methodically changed in our time spent with God;  He is the One who is intimately acquainted with love and knows exactly how it works.

Who and what we invest our time and energy in determines the outcome.
Our intimacy with God leads us into areas of transparency and truth.

The more time we spend in God’s presence, the more our defenses fade away. In this way healing begins as well as deeper revelation and thus freedom.  The ways God thinks and moves and responds become the way we think, move and respond.

Jesus modeled patience each time He stopped and answered someone’s questions or responded to the apostle’s naive statements. He was never jealous about those He ministered to, in fact He was jealous for us all. He never boasted about Himself and His abilities; even He was mindful to give all glory to God.

Although He had a reason to be prideful, His manner was not prideful.

He spoke from a place of sincerity and was direct and truthful in His encounters.  He was not rude. Even as He rebuked the Pharisees, He still loved them and wanted only the best for them, which was to surrender to God.  He spoke from His heart. He didn’t play games or try to make someone guess or purposely frustrate others with intellectual quips.

Jesus always stepped aside for the Father’s will, forfeiting His right to have His own way. In this unquestioning obedience He fulfilled the greatest act of love there ever was and in so doing, He saved the world.

Jesus never laughed at anyone. Jesus was the mirror image of God and presenting who God is………..God is love.

Challenge:  Let God manifest healing within you as you purpose to spend time reading the word and having quiet time with Him.  Allow Him to change whatever needs to be changed.

God bless

Marni

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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.