In His Love ~in His Word 2-14-2022
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love
comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone
who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his
one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
1 John 4:7-9
Love has always been my thing. My mother wrote in a little
book I received as a child “To Teresa who loves to love everyone …” The book
was called So Many Kinds of Love, a Hallmark book.
I actually found that once I was’ saved’ the words came to
me from that book. These first verses were there, paraphrased but it worked as
seeds planted in my soul. The words of the book and my mothers’ words to me
made me want to love people even more as
a child and as I grew into the adult me I found that God had a plan in all
that.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels,
but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I
had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and
possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and
even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I
would have gained nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
I wanted to be loved, I wanted to be somebody. God’s word
tells us if we have love then we are somebody!
Today is a day many people worry about being loved. We have
made it a thing, at least in the Americas to be enamored with giving of treats and dates, and well let’s
face it a lot of hoopla about feelings.
We know that God is love, and that my God loves us; that means
Love loves us, you know? We all have
love given to us by God, but it is up to us to accept that love or toss it like
an old Valentine card.
I believe that the first thing God wanted with humans is to
share this love that He is with us, and after the fall, or whatever it is referred
to; God still loved us.
The thing is, we need to love one another as He loves us.
That means regardless to the fact that our neighbor may park in front of our
house; we love them.
Regardless of the person who stepped into the line between
you and the 6-foot distanced person in front of you; we love them.
No matter if your spouse remembers to get you a card and say
they love you; we love them because He first loved us.
Some things to remember about Love, God’s love, was written
in this chapter. 1 Corinthians 13 is often even called the ‘love chapter’ by
many preachers and writers. Verses 4-7
tells us attributes of love; I like to add in ‘His’ in front of the word ‘love’ in these verses. They tell us
what God’s love is really like.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or
proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it
keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but
rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith,
is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Prophecy and speaking
in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will
last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of
prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of
perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. Chapter 8-9
There are things in this chapter that rarely get read, I did not want to stop there because they are
important. We often give gifts on Valentine’s Day and God gives us gifts as
well, not just love but other useful things that will help us to share His love
and the Gospel story. We give gifts on this holiday that are temporary things, like
childhood dreams they fade but what we need to give is a gift of lasting wise
love. That love we had as a child was cute admiration, but the love God gives
us is strong and powerful and able to heal and give people hope for tomorrow
and peace for today!
When I was a child, I
spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away
childish things. Now we see things
imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see
everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete,
but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Chapter 11-12
It takes faith to get hope, and hope in Christ, to receive love.
It is the ultimate gift because it is what God gave us in His son.
Today, try to give of yourself, instead of just a box of chocolates,
gift a deed. Send a card, or text a friend you have in your phone that you know
is alone today and let them know you care or appreciate them. Reach out to the
lost and the lonely and give them a blessing by just being there to listen to their
cries.
Be Jesus for them or point them in His direction that they
too can know the Love of Jesus!
Give them faith.
Show them where to find Hope.
Introduce them to Love.
13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and
the greatest of these is love.