Five Principles of God's Love

Principle 3: We cannot love by our own strength.

It is impossible, in our own strength, for us to love those who are not easy to love. By nature we are not patient or kind or free of jealousy, so it is impossible for us to express a true kind of love as shown in 1 Corinthians 13.

"There is a story told about a Christian woman named Jan. This is not an unusual story because many people face her same problem. Jan lived next door to a woman named Sarah, whose personality constantly annoyed her. Jan had been a Christian about a year and knew she should be loving towards Sarah, but Sarah was not an easy person to love. Jan was determined to be understanding and kind toward Sarah. But every time she was around Sarah, Jan became critical and either said or did unkind things. Jan became frustrated because she was around Sarah a great deal. Jan wanted God to love Sarah through her. But she did not know how to let him and she could not do it in her own power. "