Love Actually IsSample

Love is.. humble  

Love is shown through your walking in humility.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4 - Paul says

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up…”

Think about those three descriptions of love. Love does not envy, it is not jealous. Love does not parade itself; it does not puff itself up. Love is not proud or arrogant. It does not boast about itself.

To condense all these aspects and define love in one word: it is humble. Love walks in humility. “Love is the more excellent way”, the apostle Paul says, as he encourages us to pursue love, and explains how love expresses itself. He says that love will not be jealous, love will not be boastful, it will not be puffed up. 

When we walk in humility, it frees us from any sense of competition, of trying to be better than the other person, of trying to have more or achieve more. We won’t seek to put on public display, the things that God has given to us or helped us accomplished. Love shifts the focus entirely from our own accomplishments and possessions to what others are and how we can celebrate their success. 

Walking in this kind of love means that we will value others more highly than ourselves. In doing so, our identity no longer rests on our own position in comparison to others. Instead, we will seek to serve and honour people from a place of humility. In this way, love actually frees us from jealousy and pride, from the need to promote ourselves or to seek recognition or accolades. 

We forego every opportunity to put ourselves up on a pedestal, and we are willing to go down to where the other person is, and even lower than that because love causes us to prioritise our attention and efforts on them, and not on ourselves. 

It’s no longer about who you are, what pleases you, or how you can exalt yourself. Love makes you want to lift others up and be a servant to them.

Like Paul says, walk the more excellent way of love. Walk in humility, walk free from jealousy, walk free from pride.

Prayer

Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that You will teach us, You will empower us to walk in Humility and love. Thank you that we are recipients of Your love. Thank You that Your love is poured into our hearts so that we can release it to people. Help us to love people the way You want them loved.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.