Love Is a PersonExemplo

Loving another is a risk, since there are no guarantees that love will be reciprocated. It takes courage and boldness to love another. Of course, it’s easiest to love those we agree with and with whom we share the same lifestyle. It’s fairly easy to love strangers. But it’s really hard to consistently love those who are closest to us because they can, and do, hurt us. When we are hurt, we may take a step back and withhold our love out of fear of being hurt, perpetuating a vicious cycle.

But 1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT tells us

 “...Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.” 

Fear is the opposite of love. Fear cannot stand where God’s love abounds, and His love abounds in you!

Even in our disappointment, we can choose to pick ourselves back up and move forward, for love is never defeated! Love stays the course. It never lets go. When things go from bad to worse, love always moves toward, never away. 

Love never gives up. It endures and pushes past any quitting point. When we are ready to give up, Love reaches beyond our situations with hope for the future. This hope is not a vain wish for something that may or may not happen, but it is the settled conviction that God sees and is at work, even when we cannot imagine a good outcome. 

Love offers hope as a shelter for the most difficult situation.

Love holds on in hope: 

• for the meanest neighbor.
• for the challenging foster child.
• for that coworker who is your greatest annoyance. 
• for your husband or wife who doesn’t know how to love.

As we allow our love to hold on in hope, nothing will defeat it because “Love never stops loving." 1 Corinthians 13:8 TPT

Your enemy, satan, has one purpose: to turn you away from Love, for satan is the antithesis of love and of God. He relentlessly whispers fear and defeat on the chance you will give up and make agreements with him that your situation is a lost cause. He wants to steal your influence, kill your hope, and destroy your love. If he can do that, he has won. We must be alert and stand firm against him by making a strong choice for Love.

In the collision of the two kingdoms, Love is the force that separates and pushes back the darkness and shuts down the enemy. When people are rude and unkind, choose to love them anyway. When conflict comes, apologize and forgive, and keep choosing love.

Love is a very high calling but it's not out of our reach, for we were never asked to love from our own resources or abilities. As in all things, as we practice, we will get better. We will become stronger. We will go beyond what we thought was possible. 

Love is a Person. When we are anchored to Him, we can continue to love and give to others without fear of losing ourselves. 

“So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!” Jesus, in John 15:17 TPT

These examples of love written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 are not exhaustive of love’s characteristics, for the depths of His love for you is offered throughout scripture. As you dig deeply into His Word, discovering more of Who He is and what He says about you, I pray that your love for others will be enlarged.

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