Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres
If you remember, way back at the dawn of time (so March), I started this little series into the ever famous 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. I've decided to finish up with verse seven rather than eight as the context of spritiual gifts versus love is probably another series in itself.
So, here we are. The final installation of "serious bloggers have labels and blog series" (self-deprecating humour is my speciality).
Love always protects
I can say with absolute certainty that I do not always protect. According to this Pastor's blog post "protect" is more closely translated from the Greek as "bearing," meaning that it bears up under difficulty, and doesn't run away at the first sign of trouble.
I like to think of myself as a pretty loving person but there are days when I am tired and worn out and switch my phone off, log off Facebook and because I cannot bear helping another friend out.
I like to think of myself as a pretty loving person but there are days when I am tired and worn out and switch my phone off, log off Facebook and because I cannot bear helping another friend out.
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I found this photo when searching "introvert." I found it appropriate.
Nguyen Hung Vu under CC license |
And that's ok. For my fellow introverts we need some people-free time otherwise terrible things happen (like, we get cranky). It's not ideal and certainly not a perfect picture of love but I do know that I can love others better when I'm feeling ok within myself.
Love always trust
This means putting our faith in relationships, in other people and loving them unconditionally. Yeah that's not me either. I'm great at loving people I like but loving my enemies? C'mon Jesus, let's be serious... (Spoilers: He's totally serious).
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Sandro Kharazashvili via WikiMedia Common under CC license |
Love always hopes
To love is to hope, to have faith in seemingly impossible
situations...And with seemingly impossible people. When people close to you are struggling sometimes they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Sometimes we need to point them in the right direction, but that doesn't mean they're going to listen. They might want to sit in their dark tunnel for a while (see last week's post). This is difficult, we may become discouraged and start to lose hope too.
situations...And with seemingly impossible people. When people close to you are struggling sometimes they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Sometimes we need to point them in the right direction, but that doesn't mean they're going to listen. They might want to sit in their dark tunnel for a while (see last week's post). This is difficult, we may become discouraged and start to lose hope too.
Love always perseveres
Similar to the situation above love calls us to persevere in difficult times. To persevere, to endure in faith and in hope. We bear all (protect), love unconditionally (trust), hold to our faith (hope) and we just keep going, keep slogging through and soldiering on (persevere).
That Pastor's post I mentioned earlier describes love as "tenancious" and I think that's a great way to sum up this verse: don't give up, don't give in. And how can I possibly do this? Because Jesus didn't up on me. No matter how many foolish things I do, how much I push and argue and run away He is always there.
7 comments:
AMEN! I love this post and your humor. I understand the introverted need of silence and aloneness. I also understand that somedays loving is just hard. So glad to be visiting you today from #DanceWithJesus
Yes! We don't give up on loving people because our Lord did not give up on living us. May we remember that every day. Blessings!
Persevere- in the hallway. In the dark spots. Keep on. Noah did (100+ years). Moses did (40 years). I want to zap it in the microwave and be done at the push of one button...yet I'm called to persevere and to praise Him in the hallway.
Love your post and I'm doing a virtual dance with ya from #DanceWithJesus at SusanBMead.com
We can do it! Thanks for the love all xx
You nailed it! Although we should always strive to love the way Jesus taught us, it's not always easy due to our human frailties. Blessings!
I agree, we all need to "switch off" on occasion and get ourselves together. You have a beautiful blog, glad you had "that moment"!
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