1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV) 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We recently had a reader write to us and ask us some questions about a situation she has in her life.
We won’t give details as to what her exact situation is, but she had written regarding a verse and teaching we had sent out about husbands loving their wives. She ultimately asked us to define love and asked us for scriptures to give her a better, clearer understanding of how love should be acted out.
We’d like to share with you the answer that we gave her, to hopefully help everyone else who might need to read and learn about these same things. So below is part of our answer to her questions. We gave her the scripture reference above and then included our feedback and counsel. This might be a little lengthy, but we want to share the entire thing so that nothing gets left out and it leaves no question unanswered.
“Love implies action, even if it isn’t used as a verb. If we love someone, it is something that we feel, as well as something that we show the person we love. With love, there comes commitment. This can be a commitment to some kind of action or a commitment to a life together, etc.
Some people are way better than others at showing love and acting it out. A lot of this has to do with our emotional and spiritual condition. People who struggle with a lot of different emotional baggage are not usually good at showing love to others. The same could be said for people who’s spiritual life is a mess. If they’re not right with God, and they are full of negativity, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, etc., they will usually not be good at showing love to people.
On the contrary, they are usually better at sowing anger, bitterness, discontentment and even hatred. Sometimes it might seem to ooze from them, as they try to sort out their miserable condition and come to terms with who they are as a person.
The hardest part is for those around them to keep loving them, even when all that person seems to be able to do is hurt everyone else.
As for the definition of love? Different people will define it differently, but here’s they way we should see it, being followers of Christ.
Love is caring for someone so deeply that we put them before ourselves. Love is making sacrifices for those that you love, even if it means doing without something so that the other person can have it. Love is showing a person how much you care, whether through a hug, a smile, a gentle touch or a kind, encouraging word. Love is all of these and more. Love is not based on just how we feel at any given moment. Love is something we learn how to do, over our entire lifetime. As we grow and mature, we should learn how to love more deeply and without having to think about it.
Now, with all of that said, love should be a two-way street, not just one-way. When one person loves and gives their all and the other person fails to live up to their end of the bargain, it hurts and it can cause anger or resentment. And if the person on the hurting end isn’t careful, they can become bitter and hard, causing them to step way outside of where God wants them to be. And before they know it, they are full of anger. Anger can blind us and cause us not to be able to see things clearly and it can cause us to miss out on things that God might be trying to show us or teach us in our everyday lives.
Although there are other scriptures that talk and teach about love, this one is pretty much the summation of all the others.”
So if there is someone in your life that you love, love them like you mean it.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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