Echoes of love

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

We always take this passage to mean love for our fellow men. But as I was reading my bible this morning I thought "how do we show our love for God?" Then the lord directed me towards this chapter and he answered my question. 

How do we love God? By being patient and trusting in his promises no matter how long we are waiting. By never faltering in our faith and hoping in him no matter how long he makes us wait. By looking to him to finish everything in his good timing, knowing that he has a plan for everything and no matter how long it takes everything will work out. Love is patient. 

 

How do we love God? By being kind even when hard times come, and not just kind to those around us. To many times do we rebuke God when hard times come upon us. But he is sovereign and we are not, and if we truly love him then when hard times come we will love him all the more and be all the kinder. Love is kind and does not rebuke. 

 How do we love God? By not envying, by not desiring something that we shouldn't. By being content with where God has placed you. By not wanting others gifts and talents, by not coming to God discontent with your lot and life. But by being content with where you are, and who you are, because God has made you the perfect you. Love is content. 

How do we love God? By not thinking ourselves higher than we are. By not letting this worlds praises and adoration cause us to put God in a lower position in our hearts. By putting God first and foremost forever and ever, because that's where He belongs. Love is humble. 

How do we love God? By making sure our behavior and actions point back to him. By being lights in this dark world, lights that shine for him. By not causing others to stumble because of our actions and behavior. Love shines through our actions. 

How do we love God? By not seeking our own glory. By looking to him, by praying to him and asking him to use us in a way that brings glory to his holy name. By constantly keeping our eyes fixed on him and him alone. By seeking to glorify him and him alone, because he alone is worthy of praise and glory. Love glorifies God. 

How do we love God? By not letting others distract us and provoke us. There will come times in your life where people will attack you because of your faith, simply to see what your reaction will be. And in those days our love for God needs to shine all the clearer. Do we love him enough to put aside ourselves, to put aside our desire to justify ourselves and to let love reign in us? Love is not provoked easily. 

How do we love God? By not letting evil thoughts intrude our minds. By putting our minds totally on him and not letting anything else invade. By thinking only on that which is pure and by casting all distractions and wicked thoughts out of our minds. Love keeps its mind on God and nothing else. 

How do we love God? By not rejoicing in sin. Not just our own sin but the sin of others as well. By looking at sin as God looks at sin and not praising it. By looking at the truth and the truth is that sin is death, but we are free from it because of Christ. The truth is that God hates sin, but because of Christ the bonds of sin are broken. Love lives in the truth. 

How do we love God? By bearing all things that he tells us to bear, by rejoicing through hardships because we love him so much. By looking at our burdens and hardships not as burdens or hardships, but simply another chance to prove we love him. Love bears everything with rejoicing. 

How do we love God? By believing all his promises, by looking at all his promises and seeing his love for us and letting that motivate us to love him more. By trusting him enough to believe that he loves us and wants what's best for us. Love trusts enough to believe. 

How do we love God? By hoping in him, by letting him be our hope is this life. By having hope even if their is no hope, because he is our hope and he will pull us through this. We will never be without hope because God is our hope and we will never be without God. Love hopes in the lord. 

How do we love God? By enduring everything with gratitude. By looking at everything as blessing from the lord. Because hardships add to our testimony, and burdens help us to understand others suffering. Love endures everything with gratitude. 

How do we love God? This ^^^ is how we love God. 

Hear the echoes of our calling to love God. Let love reign in you. 

Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.