Everyday life is a learning adventure. That’s my philosophy. Our eyes constantly being enlightened to new truths, with a continuous heart and mindset change.
What would love possibly mean to you?
What does love look like to you?
Tell me, or better yet, show me, the color of love?
What is the ideal, what should it, or is it supposed to look like?
Amidst diverse notions and theories the world has proposed, thankfully there’s one source that gives us an ideal picture…
I’m sure you’ve heard or might have heard the expression or the saying, that “God is love”. You might laugh then and think to yourself, Is love supposed to look like God? What does God even look or sound like?
Look no further, for the answer is given, it’s provided in His complete manuscript for life (The Bible)…
From it, I’ve deduced several statement that serve as a litmus test to love. So then, I know it’s love when it bears these marks, when it carries the characteristics… I used several translations to get a more wholesome, rounded outlook as to what God says love is…
Ref: 1 Cor. 13:4-8
NLT (New Living Translation)
– Love is patient and kind
– Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
– It doesn’t demand it’s own way.
– It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged (doesn’t hold grudges).
– Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
– Love lasts forever.
– Love is not childish in speech, thought, reason and action. It is mature.
– Love comes with perfect clarity (this debunks the myth that “Love is blind”).
MSG (The Message Version)
– Love cares more for others than for self.
– Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have (it is content, satisfied, not covetous).
– Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others (isn’t forceful, it is a choice of the will and should be reciprocal). Isn’t always ‘me first’. Doesn’t fly off the handle (easily angered).
– Love puts up with anything
– Love trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back (aimed at progress, futuristic in sight), but keeps going to the end.
– Love never dies.
AMP (Amplified Version)
– Love endures with patience and serenity (calmness), is kind and thoughtful…
– Love is not provoked nor overly sensitive.
– Love bears all things (regardless of what comes), believes all things (looking for the best in each one), hopes all things (remaining steadfast during difficult times), endures all things (WITHOUT WEAKENING).
Having read all these, seems like a tall order yeah? One impossible to fulfill humanly speaking? You’re probably thinking, only God and angels can love like this… Sure, it’s hard but not impossible…
We’re all WIP’s (Works In Progress) and the goal is simply to be better today, than we were yesterday.
It is possible when we learn to “LOVE BY YOUR SPIRIT (the spirit of God dwelling inside of you), AND NOT BY YOUR SENSE (your human abilities)”… I’ll talk more about this in my next post!
WATCH OUT!!!
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Love and Grace,
Zizi.
Amen. Iβve quoted the verse about speaking in the tongues of angels but having not love many times in my life, both to others in teaching, and to myself.
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Nice one. I’ll stay tuned!
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Thanks Bestie. I’ll keep you posted.
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This is very insightful.
Everyone seems to have a self obtained definition of live these days. However we forget to extract the true meaning of love from the bible. God is the embodiment of love itself and I really love how you have scriptures to standardise the meaning of love.
Love this postππ
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Thank you so very much. I do believe the Bible should be our standard for everything. It’s a complete manuscript for life. It might not be so easy to follow on our own but by His Spirit we can… It’s a process of growth…
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Indeed Dara, no truer words.π
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