The Way of Love

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.  ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.


I know this scripture is really long, but this morning when I was reading it, I began to think about what it really means to love. Love can come in several different ways, in different forms and in different sort of relationships. But over all, love is the key to holding everything together. When you love someone, you're willing to work with them, help them, speak to them, correct them and forgive them. Forgiveness is one of the most powerful forms of Love, because when things go wrong, the human tendency is to draw back and just say "forget it," "I don't want to deal with this anymore" etc. But when you choose to forgive, you are following directly in Jesus' foot steps. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing."  He chose to forgive those men who were mocking him, spitting on him and ultimately, killing him.  That is true love and that is true forgiveness. When you can look your adversary in the eye and forgive them, you're displaying true love.
Choosing to forgive isn't always easy. For me, I've found that I think I've forgiven someone and then something else pops up in my life where bitterness shows it's ugly head again and I realize, I just pushed that grudge under the carpet, instead of truly forgiving. And sometimes, because we're human, we have to keep forgiving and  keep choosing to love.   Pray for the person you are forgiving. Ask God to bless them. Ask God to bring you closer to him/her with the power of His Love.  Just never forget, Love is the most powerful force on earth!!! Blessings~