“Love demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere ‘kindness’
which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is,
in that respect, at the opposite pole from Love.” Larry Crabb
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be
kind to each other and to everyone else. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
“Patience with others is love. Patience with self is hope.
Patience with God is faith.” Adel Bestavros
“To put it in a nutshell, every sin is to be
traced back to impatience.” Tertullian (c. 160-225)
A man’s wisdom gives him patience;
it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
(Proverbs 19:11)
God has many attributes which are revealed in scripture. Likewise, there are many attributes of God’s love. After all, God is love, and he has many attributes. We can not ignore one attribute to the benefit of another or stress one to the detriment of the other, but at his very nature, “God is Love.” Love is often cited as an attribute of God, but it is so much more than just that. I like the quote from the article Definitions of Doctrine:
“Without love His justice would cut us off; His holiness would put us out of His sight; and His power would destroy us.” Love is the one hope of sinners, and our great concern should be to discover God’s love to us. The love that bought us also sought us and brought us to the place of safety.”
When talking about the attributes of God’s love, I think it’s important to keep in mind some frame work of the type of love we are talking about. I like this summary from the article, “How Has God Loved Us?” which calls us to remember that: Continue Reading…
It has been written that “Love is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person.” (Thoughts for Those in Troubled Marriages. Marriage Missions. Steve & Cindy Wright. 7/14/2006) Anyone who has ever tried to practice true biblical love can confirm the truth of that statement.
Before we jump right into an in depth study of the characteristics of love, I thought it might be worthwhile to step back and ask a more fundamental question. What causes love? Where does it come from? Let’s start by having a look at love in the context of its source and its flow.
In order to understand love, we must first understand the flow of love – where it comes from, how it starts, how it flows, and what we’re to do with it. Let’s begin with the fundamentals of what love is or more precisely, what God is. Continue Reading…
There is a verse in the Bible that virtually everyone knows – if not verbatim, at least they would recognize it when they heard it. Next to John 3:16, it is perhaps the best known verse in the Bible. It reads as follows:
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, and always perseveres. Love never fails. [1 Corinthians 13:4-8]
It is read at weddings every day in this country. It was read at my wedding almost nine years ago despite the fact that, at the time, I had no relationship with my Lord and Savior. Perhaps there is too much familiarity with the verse. So much so that sometimes we don’t take the time to step back and think about the truth and importance of that verse. That’s what I hope to do in this posting and future postings. I want to take some time to look at each characteristic of love reflected in this verse and understand the importance and application of each.