What Love Does and What Love Does Not Do

Love: unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for others.

I know that most of you are familiar with that song that says, "what the world needs now, is love, sweet love, that's the only thing there is just too little of." Have you ever stopped to think about just how true that little verse is? Can you imagine how peaceful and loving this world would be if love was shown as God intended it to be? Children would not be killing parents and parents would not be killing children. There would be so much less hatred, less robbing, and fewer killings, instead we would be sharing the real love of God.

Let me take a few minutes to share with you a few things about love:

• Love is a commandment and not a request. 
• Love is kind
• Love is greater than faith, greater than hope
• Most importantly, God is love

1 John 4:11 says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Not because they do good things for us, and not because they boost our ego - but out of a pure heart.

According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, here's what love does:

1. Love suffers long. We have to get over these things we have in us - you guys know we're not trying to suffer long, we have no patience or time for that, right?! But that's not like Jesus because Jesus is love.
2. Love rejoices in truth
3. Love bears all things
4. Love endures all things
5. Love covers a multitude of sin. 

My friends, we ALL need this kind of love!

Conversely, here's what 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 tells us that love does not do:

1. Love does not vaunt itself. 
2. Love does not behave unseemly
3. Love does not seek its own
4. Love thinks no evil

In other words, Love is never haughty or selfish or rude, love does not demand its own way, it's not irritable or touchy, it does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice it when other do it wrong! WHOA! I know I'm still working on some of these things - what about you guys??

Thank God that He is loving, extremely patient, and eternally kind. Remember, God so loved us, so we ought to love one another!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen and... AMEN!