Love! Hate!
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ti83 on
1/1/2009 10:03:57 PM
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September 28th, 2003
Chris Carlson
www.rtochris.com
Love! Hate! Love! Hate! Love! Hate! Dont you just love to hate to love some people? We as humans want to see things in black and white. We want to understand them so we can control them. Dont you just hate that we cant control love. We might think we can control our love, but not the love of others:
Love is patient. Love always waits until the time of most effect to express itself.
Love is kind. Love is always considerate of the feelings of others.
Love does not envy. Love doesnt selfishly desire the things of others, but only the things of God.
Love does not boast. Love does not compete for a prize, rather it forfeits its prize for someone else.
Love is not proud. Love cannot be proud because it does not boast. It doesnt dwell on its past successes, only on the benefiting of others.
Love is not rude. Love does not display socially incorrect behavior because this can bring harm on others.
Love is not self-seeking. Love is not focused on itself so it cannot deliberately promote itself. Rather, the fact that it is focused on others is its means of promotion.
Love is not easily angered. Because love is focused on the benefit of others and not of self, love only expresses anger when it is to the benefit of others.
Love keeps no records of wrongs. Love forgets when you mess up. It looks at current failure only to see future potential for success.
Love does not delight in evil. Love doesnt dwell on the ways of Satan, but on the ways of God.
Love rejoices with the truth. Love does not deceive others but reveals the truth even if it hurts. The truth is like a double-edged sword. It can defend and sever the user. Love uses it to pry the leach, or destroy the lies we hold on to.
Love always protects. Love is willing to give its life to defend anothers life.
Love always trusts. Love will always follow the path God sets before it. To follow is to trust the leader. And that leader is Jesus.
Love always hopes. Love always looks forward to Gods fulfillment of his promises.
Love always perseveres. Even though the promoters of hate, war against the agents of love. Love wins without lifting up a sword, rifle, or any other man made weapon because it uses Gods weapon of sacrifice.
Love never fails. Love is the divine will and plan of God himself. God cannot fail therefore love cannot fail.
Do you still love to hate to love some people? If by chance you do, read very carefully what the Lord has to say about love. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35 NIV) Here we have Jesus Christ telling us to love each other. How do we do that? Reread the definition of love given to us in 1 Corinthians 13. God says the greatest gift of all is Love. Jesus says the greatest commandment of all is to love the Lord your God. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Love is the greatest gift of all because its the most powerful. Look at the list again. Within this view of love lies the ability to change the world. Let me share one last secret with you. Good and evil dont exist in black and white. But love does. Instead of asking if something is right, wrong, good, or bad. Ask, Would God see this as loving? Look beyond our feeling of right and wrong and look into scripture and ask, Lord, am I acting out of love in doing this?
