“Pure Love”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  (NLT)

     Love is everything that our sinful nature is not. Although our mouths can speak the words, “I love you, and our minds can reason with love, and our hearts can long for it, do we really know what true love is?  The people who follow this world know nothing of God's love, nor will they ever experience the true and lasting love that God designed for us. Instead, the world substitute’s lust, pleasure and self-importance as love, and the people who live in this kind of love are enemies of God.  Our Creator commands all people to love Him above all else, but this is not an easy command for sinners to follow, because we are lovers of self and the world of pleasure.   Most of us have been betrayed or hurt by worldly love and we become afraid of it. It is hard for fallen people to know or even recognize what true love is when all they know is what this loveless world has taught them. They don't know from where it comes, why it is needed, or how to find it—all they know is the emptiness of not having it. 

     What the world knows of love is shallow at best. We all have our own views on what love should look like, but we tend to search for it in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways. It is only by seeking God’s truth that we find true love. And when we belong to God, He will fill our lives with His never ending love. When you know your Creator, He opens the eyes of your heart to receive His love and how to return it. When you know our Savior and what He has done to prove His unconditional love, you will discover what real love means.  Although you can never fully understand God's love this side of Heaven, you can accept it and live in it.  No one will ever perfect the art of loving the way God loves, but you can begin your journey of love by exalting and loving the Living God who created you and then He will teach you how to live and love like His Son.

                                                   A Whisper of Hope

Loving others, dear child…is not an easy thing to do.  But as you spend time with Me, the Lover of your soul, I will teach you to love as I have loved you.  When you are in love with this world, you will never know Me or My love.  Instead, be in love with Me and I will fill you with an everlasting love.

Matthew 22:37-38

Jesus replied, “‘you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul, and all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.

 A second is equally important: ‘Love you neighbor as yourself.’ ” (NLT)

                                               

                    

         The one who does not love does not know God, 

                             for God is love!

                               (1 John 4:8)