Love is a very versatile word. It can be used as:
A noun:
God’s love is a “many splendored thing”.
A verb:
I really love my husband.
An adjective:
He is a very loving husband.
An adverb:
He lovingly provides me with support, compassion, appreciation, and care in every aspect of my life.
Faith, Hope, and Love are the three mainstays for a healthy life in body, soul, and spirit, but love is the greatest of them all (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:14). When we abide in love, then God abides in us, and we abide in Him (1 John 4:16).
As we love our spouse, our family, our Christian brothers and sisters, and the unbelievers around us, this unconditional love covers even their sins (1 Peter 4:8; Ephesians 4:2, 5:25; 1 Corinthians 16:14). We show compassion for their struggles, empathy for their sorrows, and understanding for their idiosyncrasies and moods.
God loves everyone in the world through every generation that ever existed, as well as every generation to come in the future (John 3:16-17). He loves us enough to adopt us as His children (1 John 3:1). Jesus proved His love for us by paying our sin debt on Calvary’s cross (John 15:3).
We love God because He loved us first, even while we were still sinners (1 John 4:19; Romans 5:8). Although we serve people and keep every Biblical commandment that exists, if we do not have love, we fall short of pleasing the Lord (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). He abundantly supplies us with His love, so we have enough to share.
Prayer:
Father God, help us to love You and Your family with brotherly affection and to outdo one another in manifesting our genuine love to You and to the whole world (Romans 12:9-10). It is only through Your mercy that we can dedicate our entire being to You. Rather than to conform our mindset and behavior to that of the world, we want to allow Your Spirit to renew our mind and to help us to discern Your will for each moment of our life (Romans 12:1-2).
If we do not abide in love, we are not completely submitting our life to You (1 John 4:7-8). Help us to especially love our spouse with Your unconditional love (1 Peter 3:6-7; Ephesians 5:33; Luke 6:31; Colossians 3:18-19). We want to love others as You love us (John 15:12; Romans 13:8-10), but first and foremost, we want to dedicate our life to loving and praising You. We thank You for including us in Your family of Saints and for the hope You laid up for us in Heaven (Colossians 1:1-29).
Thoughts for the Day:
Characteristics of Godly Love …
· Love is patient and kind
· Love does not envy or boast
· Love is not arrogant or rude
· Love is not irritable or resentful
· Love does not insist on its own way
· Love does not rejoice at misconduct but rejoices with the truth
· Love bears all things
· Love believes all things
· Love hopes all things
· Love endures all things
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
