Great Pursuits: Chasing What Matters Most in LifeSample

Pursue Love

Love should undergird and permeate the heart of the believer. (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). We must pursue love relentlessly as it characterizes everything we do as followers of Jesus.  

Thankfully, 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 (AMPC) provides us with a definition of exactly what God’s love looks like:

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. 

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. 

Did you notice that it said, “Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights . . .”? According to Romans 5:5, the love of God has already been poured into the heart of the believer. The ability to do everything you just read in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 is already in you! When you consider the command to “pursue love,” it’s not about pursuing something that is vacant from your life. If you belong to Christ, the love of God has already been deposited into your heart. It is a part of your new nature as a Christian.

We are to pursue the expression of that love, of our new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17), and purposely let it work its way into our actions and words. “How is it done?” you might ask. In the simplest of terms, the answer is that you make a choice to do so. The love of God in you is either turned loose or held on a leash by the power of choice.

There is, however, a key to developing a life that exemplifies God’s love.

If you are to grow in Christ and demonstrate the love nature that has already been poured into your heart, you must make it a daily business to feed on God’s Word. A well-fed spirit and a renewed mind will always be victorious in putting the body and its fleshly desires under subjection (Romans 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 9:27). Pursuing love means making choices – choices that become much easier as you fill your mind and feed your spirit with the Word of God.

Action Step

Take a moment to dwell on this simple truth: God really does love you. Accept it, thank God for it, and rejoice in it today. It is His love that empowers you to love like Him. As 1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”