Love Looks Like Something
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things — I Corinthians 13:4-7
Love looks like….something.
Think about it.
Love is not vague, random, blind, invisible.
I actually borrowed this phrase from a great missionary Heidi Baker but I loved it so much I wanted to write about it for your own personal life.
What does love look like to you? Where did you get your idea of love for your own personal life? Is love based on what you feel? What you see? What others do to you? What you were taught?
I want to challenge you that love is not a feeling. Look at the scripture again. All those characteristics are attributes of God. Society tells us that love is a feeling. I think that that is a limited view at best. Patience is an attribute you possess. Kindness is a tangible thing you give away. Not envying or boasting is a gift you give. Not being rude or arrogant is a choice. Not insisting on your own way is selfless living. Not being irritable or resentful is living in self control and peace. Not rejoicing at a wrong done to you but rejoicing in truth is dieing to self.
The writer of this great verse sums up what love really IS. It is quite startling as the words of the Holy Spirit flow to his heart. This description of God is so amazing and yet so profound one has to shutter at the cost of living this out in your everyday life. Sometimes we read it and we make an excuse for not living up to this. We say we can’t do it. We say that is too hard. We say I deserve better. We give up on people. But, the truth is, that if He is living in you, you can “do” LOVE. You can be LOVE.
Love is a CHOICE
I submit to you that doing love, is a choice. Simple and profound at the same time. Love bears all things. Let that sink in. Do you, do I, bear all things? Is that even our hearts desire. Do we even want the heart of God to be our heart? Do we even want to bear all things. No. Well, maybe sometimes. We really want to bear what is comfortable, good, satisfying. Then there is the time issue. I will bear all or some things but I put a time limit on it. Love believes all things. Really? Can we believe that good will come from evil. From mistreatment. From tragedy. If it says all things, and it does..what “all things”? I think love believes all things and hopes all things and endures all things in Christ. That is the only way you would be able to do it. It believes all things and all the things He has said about a situation and His heart to you. You must believe that. Hope in that.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another –1 John 4:10-11
Love is a subject that we could never exhaust. I am not even going to try. I just wanted to share a little of my heart on what love may look like or what love my cost you. Do you think you get this kind of love for free? Hardly. What would the world really look like if they stopped thinking love was a feeling but a force and a power and a choice?
Love is a PERSON
All those descriptions above are radical. Love is radical. Love is a person, Jesus. Love is something you deny food for it. You lose sleep over it. But it is not complicated. We make it complicated with reasoning and theory and feelings. We stop life for love, you love the one who rejects you because of it. God can take the most barren and broken life, even a life that you left, broke your own promises over, a life that you walked away from, a life filled with things you thought you would never do many times over and heal every part of it. He does that. Jesus, can plant a glorious wonderful new promise in your heart and soul and give you strength you need to carry out His promises to full term. Love believes in you. Love endures all things, even your things. Love hopes in you always. Love never gives up.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.– I John 4:8
Love is COSTLY
The cost of this love to you….was His blood. Jesus died and gave us this love as a gift. A gift that you can open and use and treasure and cherish and take advantage of everyday. It cost Him so much that even if you reject it He will still love you with it. It was so costly, you didn’t even do a thing to get it. You didn’t earn it. It was so costly that you have to be willing to be broken to even partake in it to give it to others. You have to give up all of you to be able to give it away to someone else.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.– Matthew 22:37-39
It so costly, that you will have to die for it also. It’s that priceless. See this love can’t be mixed with your love. It’s so costly, its an all or nothing love. All you have to do…is exchange all of you for it.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. –John 15:13
Love looks like something…..
Selah