Month: September 2018

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.

Love is not provoked.

Provoked: angered, enraged, irritated, infuriated.

These are just a few of the words that will help us understand being provoked.

Love is not easily angered. It does not easily become enraged.

Love will see or hear something that is intended to cause or stir up anger, and not react immediately. Instead, love will allow the spirit of God to speak and give insight on how to handle the situation.

Love will not react based on emotions, but will take the necessary time to assess it and then act accordingly.

Love will not get caught up in hype or propaganda, but will use wisdom to discern what is in front of them before making choices or speaking.

Jesus was a perfect example of this. He spoke to everyone He encountered in a way that was not provoked by the things they had said or done, but instead, with wisdom and understanding.

Let’s use His example as a model for our own lives.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love does not seek its own.

Love will not put itself before others, nor will it be self-serving.

Love will let others go first. Love will offer what it has to others, even when what is being offered is not plentiful.

Love will be kind and considerate, even when doing so doesn’t come easy.

Love will smile and encourage others even while fighting unknown battles that make us want to do anything but smile.

As a young teenager, I remember spending the night at my maternal grandparents’ house. In the morning I wanted to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. My grandmother also wanted to have a bowl of bran cereal.

The problem was that there was only enough milk for one of us. I would have been perfectly fine with having something else for breakfast, but my grandmother wouldn’t hear of it. She knew I preferred cereal.

She quickly poured herself a bowl of bran flakes and proceeded to put water in her bowl, instead of milk, choosing to eat her cereal with water so I could have the last bit of milk with my cereal.

That is one of the best examples of love not seeking its own that I can think of sharing with you to demonstrate this particular aspect of love.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love does not behave rudely.

Rude, bad mannered, offensive, disrespectful, disagreeable. These are not characteristics of someone walking in love.

We might even go so far as to call these traits of someone who is less than Spirit-led.

Rudeness will quickly insult and hurt others with words and actions, causing damage that is very hard to undo. Yes, it can be forgiven, but the sting of what is said or done can be far-reaching and long-lasting.

Rudeness stirs up anger in those who are being treated rudely. It has a way of taking the anger in the one who is behaving rudely and spreading that anger to others.

There may be times when words need to be spoken directly, and with authority, but there is never room for being rude or obnoxious to others.

Proverbs 15:1 (NKJV) 15 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love does not parade itself and is not puffed up.

Love will keep us from being haughty, arrogant and proud. It will prevent us from making ourselves the center of attention.

On the contrary, love will cause us to put others first, preferring instead to go unnoticed.

Love is not prideful. Instead, it is humble and satisfied with not being noticed or elevated by others.

Love will be willing to help others rise up and be noticed or rewarded while you get no recognition whatsoever, even if recognition is deserved or earned.

This is probably one of the most difficult aspects of love that most of us wrestle with. Human nature likes to be noticed and to get credit for things.

But the nature of Christ is satisfied to sit in the background and let others shine.

And it is Christ that we are called to emulate.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love does not envy. 

Envy is not a quality or a byproduct of love. In fact, it is part of the opposite of love.

To envy means to be jealous or to lust after something (or someone) belonging to someone else.

Envy will typically display itself in ways that are not very flattering or Spirit-led.

Envy will cause us to make snide comments about someone in an effort to detract from something they have accomplished. It will cause us to be angry when someone we know gets blessed.

It’s important to remember that if we truly love someone, we will never be envious of them. Instead, we will be happy for them and with them!

We need to always remember that letting God’s spirit lead us will cause us to live our lives loving those around us in every way possible.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love is kind. 

Kindness is something that should come natural to believers, especially if we have been a follower of Christ for any length of time.

To define kindness, let’s first take a look at what it’s not.

Kindness is not rude. It is not sarcastic. It is not mean or vindictive. Kindness is not judgmental.

Kindness, on its most basic level, is akin to friendliness. Additionally, if we are kind, we will be considerate and generous.

If we are kind, we will treat people the way we would like to be treated. We will make an extra effort to do something helpful or nice for someone.

Obviously, as Christians, kindness should come naturally to us as we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit. The words we speak should be uplifting and encouraging, not negative or humiliating to the one being spoken to.

Does this mean that we will never disagree with someone? Absolutely not. But even in our disagreements we will not be rude, demeaning or degrading to anyone. Our words can be spoken firmly and with conviction, but never with the intention of bringing shame to anyone.

Love is kind, and as children of God, we should also be kind, exemplifying Christ in everything we say and do.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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.

Love. It’s a word with many different connotations. It can be viewed from so many different angles. And the word itself can be used in so many different ways.

We tell people that we love them. We express an emotion or a feeling this way.

We show others love by our actions. It’s an outward expression of an inward feeling.

And there are so many other examples of showing love for others. But the verses above give us very specific characteristics of love. These verses go beyond the feeling or the emotion, and they teach us what love looks like outwardly.

So, we are going to look closely at these verses over the next few days and gain a better understanding of how we should walk these out in our daily lives.

Love suffers long.

It is patient in all situations. It doesn’t give up on someone at the first sign of trouble. It doesn’t get frustrated and walk away when a person doesn’t meet our expectations right away.

It doesn’t get exasperated or frustrated easily. It tolerates much, even to the point of making sacrifices.

Now, there may come a time when we need to let them know that we have done all we can do. And then we release them, laying them and their situation at God’s feet and praying for them.

This is all part of loving them and being patient. In the end, we trust that God will do whatever needs to be done and that His mercies will be on them as we pray for them.

More to come…

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!