LOVE UNWRAPPED

Each and every one of us has a need to be loved and a desire to love but many of us really have no understanding of what true love is. Yesterday we established that God is love and so the foundation of our love should be God and not any other thing. If our love is founded in any other thing then it is a counterfeit

But when you really think about it, what is love? Would you know it if you spotted it? We use the word love in relation to many things. Think about this; I love bread, I love vw beetles, I deeply love my wife, I love my kids, I love God and the list goes on and on and on.
What do I mean when I say I love all these things?

1 Corinthians 1-4a
1If I speak in the tongue of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,

This week we are unwrapping love to find out whether we have the real thing or simply an imitation. Even as we do this, think about you and the love you give. The first three verses establish the necessity of love. You can have all other things but if love is absent then its all for nothing. That is because God is love. Then it goes on to break down love into chewable pieces that we can relate to and understand in everyday life.

Love is patient meaning to bear and endure without complaining. It does not say that love is only patient when things are working well. When do you need patience? Is it when things are working well or when things are not working?
God is patient with us and He is the standard where love is concerned. How would life be if God was impatient with us? God does not walk out on us when we commit sin and turn our backs on Him. He remains patient. To be patient is to wait without worry

Love is kind, meaning it is good natured, tender, and affectionate
When you truly love someone you will be kind to them, desiring to do good to them, you will be gentle and not severe or harsh. You will be courteous because you desire their happiness and would not pain their feelings

Love does not envy meaning it does not long to posses something awarded or achieved by another
When someone in the church gets that promotion that you have been eying for years do you rejoice with them or do you envy them? When your friend’s marriage is blossoming and doing great do you rejoice with them while yours is hitting rock bottom or do you envy them?

Notice that as God unwraps to us loves character it does not come with strings attached. It is not dependant on how the other person behaves. If that were the case then none of us would experience Gods love
So, as we look at the first three characteristics of love we can begin to understand what love looks like in everyday life.

Love is to bear and endure without complaining
Love is good nature d tender and affectionate
Love does not long to posses something awarded to or archived by another.
Those are only the first three and I am already challenged because I can already see that I am wanting.
Is this how the love that you confess look like? Before you say I love you this valentine, think am I patient? Am I kind? Do I envy?
Tomorrow we continue to unwrap love!

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Purpose to go back to Gods school to re learn what true love really is!

-Hope FM.