Live Love Not Hate!

I remember just a short time ago, about a year and a half; I was a very bitter person. I would get angry at the drop of a hat. Road rage was a very large part of my bitterness and hate towards others. I drive a long way to work, 48 miles one way. That is approx 500 miles a week just going to work and back. So needless to say I spend a lot of time in my car. A year and half ago I hated my job, I hated myself, and I hated my life. Often I would come home from work and already be raging from the drive home and the day I let myself have. I quite regularly would explode at the smallest little thing that really wasn’t that big of a deal. That explosion was directed at people that it shouldn’t have been directed at. People that I loved and I knew that loved me for who I was not what I was. For 5 years I was like this. I hurt many of the people in my life that cared about me. Mainly my wife, but she hung in there until God changed me. She recently told me that she prayed for this change to happen for a long time. Well baby...........I’m back from the dead.

I want to share a little bit about God’s love and how it changed my life. Sure I heard them as a child, but never really knew what exactly they meant till now.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. All the special gifts and powers from God will someday come to an end, but love goes on forever.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

Here are fourteen ingredients of love.

Love is patient: Literally love suffers long; it has a long fuse. When Jesus was wronged, he was patient and silent.

Love is kind: Love is going out of our way to be full of grace toward others.

Love does not envy: Unconditional love desires the best for others. Our main goal is for our beloved to be all God intends them to be.

Love does not boast: Jesus never showed off. His greatness is often revealed in what He suppressed, rather than what He did or said.

Love is not proud: God's love is not arrogant. Pride is inflated selfishness. Love is genuine humility.

Love is not rude: It is never inconsiderate or inattentive.
Love is not self-seeking: God's love does not grasp for its own rights. This rules out selfish, conditional types of love -- the "I love you if", and the "I love you because" loves.

Love is not easily angered: It does not become irritated, it is not touchy. Jesus never retaliated when wronged. He never grumbled or had a bad temper. (His temple-cleansing was a controlled and calculated response.)

Love keeps no record of wrongs: God's love forgives and forgets. Jesus came to blot out our sins and remember them no more.

Love does not delight in evil but it rejoices in truth: Love is never glad when others do wrong or wrongs happen to others. It does not delight in the weakness of others. It does not gloat or gossip.

Love always trusts, and believes all things: God's love gives the benefit of the doubt. It is loyal, yet not gullible. It is tolerant in judging others.

Love always hopes: It never takes failure as final. It always looks toward the future, not the past.

Love always perseveres: It endures all. God's love can not be conquered. If we endure with Christ, we will reign with Him.

Love goes on forever: Love is eternal. It never fails. It never loses strength. It never leaves its place. It is immovable and indefatigable.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” - 1 John 4:16 (NIV)

The goal for us is to be more like Him. Try something for me. Re-read the above ingredients and replace Love with your name. If you feel in your heart and in your spirit your name doesn’t fit into any one of those, pray to God that he will change you. While we will never be perfect, I believe that it pleases God greatly for us to be growing, progressing toward perfection -- and not just be static. So what we really have here are fourteen qualities or values for being Christ-like.

Live love, NOT hate!

B