Love always protects, trusts, hopes and always perseveres

It was a beautiful but hot day at Hilton Head. First day under 100 degrees since arriving on Saturday. I played in a golf scramble that was supposed to be handicapped but my 21 hcap was the best on the team. Despite the lack of an A or B player we shot a -2 and it was a real team effort. The days have been very busy with meetings but the afternoons are free for golf.

I have arrived at the final day of the study of the attributes of love from 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Today's topics are the always of Love. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. I think this verse speaks of the love we have for our mate but also the love we have for family and friends. Love always protects could mean from harm or disaster. I think it really speaks of protection from evil and the harm that can come from outside forces. It speaks of the destruction of marriages and families by society and from the enemy. As a father and a husband I know that my responsibility was to protect my family and keep them from harm. My children depended on my guidance to keep them from wrong living by establishing guidelines to live by that would steer them in the right direction.

Love always trusts in the other person. Our mates must trust us not only in the vows we took but also in our guidance and instruction. If trust is broken it takes a long time to rebuild this trust. Our children trust us to do what is right and also to guide their lives until they are old enough to go out on their own. Love always hopes for the other person and for the future. Love has a hope in Christ and His salvation, His faithfulness etc. Finally I come to the last attribute....Love always perseveres. This one I think is the key to any marriage or meaningful relationship. If a marriage is to last it must persevere through the hard times and I really think marriages must be built upon this principle.

Having been married nearly forty years I can say that every year was not an easy year. There were extreme days of testing but with a strong will and a trust in God alone we made it through the tough times. I also know that the tough times are not over. There will be more and again our hope, our strength and our hope is in God alone to carry us through these times. For I know whom I have believed and I trust that He is able to keep me through the difficult days. I think this is the greatest gift we can have to know that God is there, that He is faithful, that He will keep me and protect me. My hope and trust is in Him. The neat thing is that this gift is free and it's all I need.

Love does not delight in evil

Love does not delight in evil. Had to think about this verse for a bit. I feel it means that we should not take pleasure in someone slipping into evil practices. It is kind of like when someone has a juicy bit of gossip to share and we listen with great intent and want to know all the details of the indescretion. This is especially the case in one we may envy. The verse goes on to say that we "should rejoice in the truth. Or our pleasure should be in sharing the word of truth or the good things about people rather than delighting in the unfortunate transgressions of other people.

So what does love do when presented with the gossip? It is difficult but we should explain that we are very sorry to hear about this and tell the person that you really don't want to hear about this situation. It is also our duty to pray for the one who conveys the gossip and to pray for the one whom the gossip is about. If we share in the gossip by listening we must also accept the fact that the one bringing this message of evil probably shares information about us that would hurt us very much. Again the right thing to do is to turn our ear from the evil and not delight in hearing this information. This is a witness to the one bearing the evil and tells them where we stand in regard to this practice. It is likely they will not share any information with you in the future.

This is nearly the end of the study of the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. I sit at Hilton Head Island where the heat has been unbearable and now we are being blessed with a late evening thunder shower. It is fathers day and I am alone here on the Island and my family members are in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. I miss them all and thank God for them everyday. I am about to go on Amazon.com and find a new book to read and enjoy the beautiful summer rain. May God bless you and yours on this summer day.

Love keeps no record of wrongs

Love forgets....it does not keep a record of wrongs or past sins. Love forgives...it does not dwell on the past mistakes we have made. Love does not dwell on past failures or past sins. Our attitude towards those who have wronged us should be the same as God's attitude towards our sin. God forgives and forgets. This is not to say that there are no consequences for our sin. Either we suffer or innocent ones around us suffer because of our sin. However God in His Word forgives and forgets our sins. Therefore we should be quick to forgive others and forget the trespasses against us.

One of the problems we have in forgiving others is that we may not have accepted our own forgiveness. It is by faith that we believe that God has forgiven us and if we accept this gift of forgiveness we can then forgive others. I have heard it said that "we should keep a short list of our sins." In other words we should always confess our sins to the Lord and as for forgiveness. There is great freedom in realizing that our slate is clean and that we can go to God with a pure heart. If we allow sin to linger and do not ask for forgiveness this can separate us from fellowship with the Father. I can easily say that if we do not forgive others then we cannot enjoy fellowship with these same people.

In order to forgive others we must stop and think a moment about ourselves. We were forgiven by a gracious and loving God. How can we not then extend this same love to others? Our sins are many but we can go to the foot of the Saviour and He is quick to forgive us....again should we not be quick to forgive others? I think we all need a reality check. We are not perfect....we sin....we have within us a nature to sin...this is the reason we do others wrong.

What about those that do not ask for forgiveness? How can we forgive them if they are not humble enough to ask? In reading a great book by Frances Chan (crazy love) he talks about this and suggests that we forgive people even if they don't ask. It is all about realizing the inadequacy of man and extending forgiveness even when it is not asked for. This is love.

Life is much easier to live if we don't walk around with ill feelings toward others even though they have done us wrong. I go to yesterdays post with this thought....others treat us many times the same way we treat God. Therefore we should be like God in that we can forget our own feelings and extend love and forgiveness to others even if they do not deserve it. A great example is our children. They do wrong and perhaps they are too young to ask for forgiveness. We do not stop loving them and we look past their wrongs because of our love for them. Even if they are old enough to express sorrow for their inappropriate behaviour but don't we still love and forgive them. This should be the same for all men.

I have heard it said that I can forgive but I won't forget. This is not true forgiveness. Of course we will be cautious with one that wrongs us but we must open the door of fellowship and pray that this one will truly cease the activity that resulted in wrong behaviour. After all how many times did Jesus say to forgive others? I believe it was 70 x 7 or numberous times. Mankind is still under construction and he will mess up...but thank God we have a patient, loving Father who keeps no record of our sins...we should do the same.

Love is not easily angered

Love is not easily angered. Seems like this one is also a difficult one for me. I have found that by going through these attributes of love I have been challenged each day as I write. God's Word has a way of doing this. My own spiritual growth program has been to take each day's topic and focus on that one attribute. One problem in a busy day is to stop long enough to focus on that one thing. You really have to almost write it down and glance at it from time to time in order to remember that you are to focus on it often. The real victory for me is that by doing this I have grown so much in the past two weeks by simply practicing these things each day. Also I have even heard a comment or two around the office that the folks there have sensed something different. So to God be the glory...great things His word does!

Today's subject is that Love is not easily angered. Now let's face it....it is easy to be angered in a typical day. Either by circumstances that occur or people that interrupt or intercede into our perfect plan for the day. They mess up our agenda. I think it would be great to say that I am never angered. Or perhaps to say it is difficult for me to lose my temper and become angry. By saying that one should not be easily angered is to say that maybe it's ok if you become angry when you are challenged repeatedly to the point that you finally lose it. I mentioned yesterday that I can only recall one instance where Christ was angry and that was when He wrecked the temple. All other recordings of His life on earth never mention that He became angry. How about God? Did He finally have enough and destroy the world with a flood? Was He angry or was He only doing what justice called for? How about when He sentenced the children of Israel to wander in the desert for forty years? Was He angry when He put the sins of the world on His only Son? I am not sure I can answer this but I can say that He was very patient before He finally disciplined our wayward world.

Now back to you and me. Are we easily angered? Do we lash out at the tiniest insult or challenge to our agenda? What causes us to become angry? Is it from frustration or stress? Do we take out our frustrations on others (more than likely those closest too us?) Is it because of self-centerdness that we become angry? So many reasons may exist but it is clear in God's Word that He desires that we be slow to anger. Again the Proverbs say that we should be quick to listen and slow to speak. Anger has a difficult time getting a foothold if we are slow to speak. If we think about our words and the impact they may have on those around us. Also and probably most important is if we think about how God feels about us despite our weaknesses, our imperfection, etc.....we would know that He loves us so much in spite of us. If we were to but learn to love others as God loves us it would be very difficult to lose our temper and become angry with others.

I will throw out one more question....a heavy one. Do we treat others like we treat God? In other words to be angry with others may be the very way we treat God? This is scary. Do I treat others as I treat God? Do I become angry and frustrated with God when things don't go the way I want them to? When I don't seem to have enough money or whatever am I angry with God? Perhaps if we really concentrated on God's blessings we receive and show Him the proper love and respect that He is due, then we might just treat others with love, patience and kindness. Some difficult questions that only we can answer with some real soul searching.

Love Is Not Self Seeking

Love means not seeking for self or seeking those things that please only me. Love is seeking what is best for others or contributing to the lives of other people. This is not to say that we should totally forget about self. We owe it to ourselves to seek those good things that do contribute to a full and abundant life. I think we should seek out great books and other media to add to our knowledge and wisdom. We should seek out other people who will add dimension to our life. A quote I have repeated numerous times is that "we will be the same people five years from now as we are today except for the books we read and the people we meet." This is why I feel it is so important to invest a portion of our time in the reading of the Bible and spend time with God and with other believers. As a result we will grow.

Here is the problem. Many seek only those things that bring fulfillment to them alone. They do this at the expense of disregarding others and their feelings. It is all about me seems to be a prevalent attitude in today's culture. The real purpose of our lives is to glorify God first and seek to add quality to the lives of those that God places us around in this world. So many would automatically think that they must become a Mother Teresa figure in this world and take on a life of poverty and serve the poorest of the poor. I beg to differ with this thought. God wants some of us to live right where we are and work at exactly what we do, but He wants us to look around us and observe and meet the needs of those He places us with.

The situations we find ourselves in today is a fast paced life with so many man-made pressures and distractions that we can't see the needs God has put us in the midst of. So we must prioritize our time and our days. We should set aside some time to spend with God and then spend some time simply observing or noticing the needs of others. This is truly seeking to add to the lives of others. Instead we find that our time is spent literally chasing the wind and feeling tired and frustrated at the end of our day. It is amazing what you can find out in ten minutes of simply listening to others and not talking and not rushing. I truly believe that God has a plan that we are in the middle of. He has us there with the sole purpose of lending aid and a caring heart to those who are hurting or those whom He is seeking.

Henry Blackaby in the book Experiencing God spends much time on the topic. His counsel to us is to watch where God is at work in our world and join Him in His work. He also has a great quote about knowing the will of God. People constantly say that they just can't find out God's will for their lives. His advice in finding God's will is to simply do what you know to be God's will. Then the question pops up again...what is God's will? How about the first great commandment to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might, and the second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. If you do these two things with all sincerity and purpose God will fill in the blanks on anything else He decides is His will for your life. Doing these things is to not be self seeking. Once again we have made the obvious simple truth very complicated.

I charge you today as I challenge myself to put God first, others second and myself third. If we do these things it is truly an act of Love on our part.

Love is not rude!

This daily study of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 is really tough on the writer. I must think through each of the attributes of love and how they apply to my life. I consider if the attribute is present in my life and if not what to do concerning this situation. I have learned that to write about these things requires me to focus on them. If I focus on them I am more apt to practice them. If I practice them they can become a natural thing in my life. I know this....without them I do not love others as I should. I think to hear Christ say that He is proud of me and my efforts would be the greatest thing ever.

Today the thought is "Love is not Rude". Another gut wrenching analysis of my own life and disposition is in order. Have I been rude? Yes. Am I rude even today? Yes. Is my desire to not be rude? Yes. To not be rude is to be kind and patient. Again one begets the next. If am patient, I am kind. If I am kind I am not rude. To whom are we most likely to be rude? To those we love and are around the most.....our mate, our family, those we work with. Why is this? I think the real person comes out when we are around them long enough.

Rudeness is in a way self-centerdness. Our view must be heard and accepted or we become belligerent and rude. To not be rude is to accept another view point and often to keep our mouth shut even when we don't agree with the other person. What do we gain from always airing our view? Momentary satisfaction that I have been heard? Is it pride in our own agenda that causes rudeness? Many things contribute but again I think it is putting self first and not really caring about others and their feelings.

One of the ways I fight this characteristic is to speak slowly. Think before I speak, listen carefully and then speak softly. This defeats our immediate reaction to lash out. Another cause of rudeness is that we take out our frustrations over completely unrelated issues and those around us suffer the brunt of our assault.

The thing that enters my thoughts at this moment is to be a gentle person. This does not leave room for rudeness. By being gentle I do not mean to say that one should be a wallflower with no opinions or one who hides in his shell. I feel that we will always have disagreements but these should not lead to rudeness. There is not a lot that I respect about politicians but I do hold in high regard the man who can be lashed out at and not lose his temper and still present his argument. This is a wise man as he will never accomplish his task to present an argument if he gets caught up in rude behaviour.

I think on Jesus and His reaction to harsh words, criticism and being treated unfairly. I can really only think of one time in the New Testament that He really lost it and this was in the temple when he overturned the money changers tables. I do think on the many times he was verbally and physically abused but did not resort to rude tactics or getting even. He left room for God to take out any vengeance. Romans Chapter 12 tells us to get along peaceably with all men (as much as is possible). It tells us to not return evil for evil. This is a difficult calling but one for which we will receive reward if we are faithful.

Once again as I have said from the beginning....we must focus on those things that we desire to change in our lives. If we have a problem with rudeness we must focus on kindness. The best thing we can do in addition to prayer for strength is to listen quickly and speak slowly. To think about the words we may say and to consider how our statement may impact those we are addressing. If we are rude to others how can we show the love of Christ to those same people.

Love is not proud

Continuing on with the attributes of Love we come to the statement that Love is not proud. Our past two posts were Love does not envy and Love does not boast. If one is not envious and one does not boast one is not proud. I think about the word proud and I think of the fact that I am proud of my children and I am especially proud of my grandchildren. It feels good to have someone close to you say "I am proud of you". I think the key here is that we are proud of others and not of self.

The other word that comes to my mind when I think of pride is humility. The greatest achievement I grasp for is to be humble. I am not doing well here. I like many can get all puffed up about my accomplishments. Whereas God would have us to be humble not self seeking nor arrogant and especially not prideful. I mentioned in an earlier post that Moses was called the humblest man who ever lived. What a statement for one who led the Children of Israel to the promised land. Yet Moses was humbled by the days in the desert, the bickering followers and the insurmountable challenges. He learned that God was truly in control of his every movement and his every moment. Then I think of Christ who could sat in the heavenlies with the Father and left this position to come to earth. He lived as we live and took upon His shoulders the sins of the world and died that we might live. He was a humble servant and died a submissive death that we might have life.

Proverbs 16 says that pride comes before the fall. God says in His Word that He hates pride. It is all about realizing the God is the one who is in control and humbling ourselves and allowing Him to live and work through us. In my work it is easy for me to say "I did this or I accomplished this" when in fact many others were a part of anything we do. Pride is thinking I am great, I am brilliant...etc. and not acknowledging that God gives me the talents and the gifts to accomplish whatever I am able to do. Eugene Petersen's Message Bible says it well in Proverbs 16:18 "It is better to live humbly among the poor than to live it up among the rich and famous".

I close with a final thought. If I am proud I do not make room for bringing glory to God. I am so full of myself that God cannot live through me and be glorified in me. I pray that God will show me how to be a humble man (this may hurt some). I pray that I would live for others and never think too highly of myself. I urge you to check out something I found on You Tube. Go to You Tube and in the search box type in "Validation". It is a long video (16 minutes) but it will show you how important it is to think of others and help them to have a better day. I practiced this at Subway today. Only one employee was on duty and she not only prepped and prepared my sandwich but she also took the money, etc. She was very busy trying to keep up. I told her how impressed I was with her efficiency and I saw a wide smile come to her face. A little thing but amazing results. Our reaction in this situation is to lose patience with what we deem as slow service. But with a little thought you can humble yourself and make the other person feel good about themselves and what they are doing.