Do you agree that people in today’s society are just as confused about love as the Corinthians were in their time? Love is the greatest of all human qualities, but we struggle to show love because of our sinful nature. Love is absolutely necessary. It is the essence of God himself (1 John 4:8). Love involves unselfish service to others. When we understand how God loves, we are free to love completely.
Love is Essential
1 Corinthians 13 defines real love
1 Corinthians 14 shows how love works
Love demonstrates the ultimate purpose of human existence. God’s love is the reason this world exists and why he wants to spend eternity with us. We have the amazing opportunity to love him in return and love others because we understand how love changes everything for good. Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, and miracle-working power produce very little without love. Love makes our actions and gifts useful. Although people have different gifts, everyone can have a huge amount of love.
Nature of God’s Love
The nature of God’s love is to love unselfishly. In other words, God’s love is directed outward towards others, not inward towards ourselves. Only God can put his character in us and help us love like this. On our own, this type of love isn’t genuinely possible, but with God helping us set aside our own natural desires, we can love without expecting anything in return. We have to feel this kind of love for it to be authentic. We gain this love through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Only Jesus can love perfectly; therefore, the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others. We will learn to love others better as we become more like Christ (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Love Unselfishly
Love involves unselfish service to others, faith is the foundation and content of God’s message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is the action. When faith and hope are in line, we are free to love completely because we understand how God loves. Since we are given free will, we have to choose to keep our faith and hope in line so that we see the value in being free to love completely. Our life experiences shape us which in turn effects how we view love. If we choose to read, understand, have faith, put our trust in God, and apply what God says about love we can value the freedom to love completely as God intends. We can’t do this in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit to gain this love and to become more like Christ. Does your faith fully express itself in loving others?
Sharing in Christ’s love,
