The greatest subject in the entire Bible – above faith, above grace, above all else – is love. Love is the supreme gift. It is the character of God on display. If your motive is not born out of love, your works will not pass the test. Anything done outside the motive of love is wood, hay, ad stubble, and will be burned by fire. Many great ministries today with wonderful works, will find that they mean nothing because they were not born out of love.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. – 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 KJV
God is love. If you don’t love, you’re not in God. It’s that important.
Love has nine key ingredients, as told in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; – 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 KJV
1.) Patience – Love suffers long.
2.) Kindness – And is kind.
3.) Generosity – Love envieth not
4.) Humility – Love vaunteth not itself, not puffed up
5.) Courtesy – Doth not behave itself unseemly
6.) Unselfishness – Seeketh not its own
7.) Good temper – Is not provoked
8.) Guilelessness – Taketh not account of evil.
9.) Sincerity – Rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth.
Patience is the normal attitude of love. Love is not in a hurry. Love understands and therefore, it waits.
Kindness is love in action. Christ spent most of his time doing kind things which made people happy. Kind acts make people happy. You’re happy when you’re no longer sick, right?
Love does not take. It gives. That’s generosity. It does not get into competition with others. Getting into competition with others is envy and covetousness.
Humility is love in hiding. Humility puts others before self. It looks out for the interests of others. It is to have an honest opinion of oneself that is based on what God says, not what we think.
Courtesy simply means to be polite. Courtesy is to love in the little things. A gentleman is someone who does things gently in love.
Unselfishness is when we give up ourselves for others. The Lord told us that it is better to give than to receive. If you want to be a great servant to others, you must give yourself to others.
Love is not provoked. That’s a good temper. A bad temper is one of the most destructive elements in all of human nature. People end up killing others in fits of rage because they do not control their temper.
Guilelessness is characterized by honesty, sincerity, and lack of deceit or cunning. It is having a pure heart with pure motives. People can tell when you are putting up a front and pretending to be someone you’re not.
The last characteristic of love is sincerity. Sincerity is always seeking the truth and never tries to expose the weakness of others.
As Christians, our lives must be grounded in love. Our relationships need to be infused with love. In all we do, let us do it in love. When we think about love, remember that it means more than just one simplistic idea. It’s multi-faceted, just like God, which makes sense because God is love.
