According to Webster’s dictionary, the English language defines the word “love” as a noun.
God intended for the word love to be a verb.
As a noun the word love explains how we feel, how it affects us personally. As a verb, it shows our selfless action to share Jesus to a hurting world in a Christ like manner.
I have been reading and rereading 1 Corinthians 13:13. As much as I am what some would call a hopeless romantic and desire the feelings that love brings to my heart. I don’t think God was talking about a feeling. He was talking about an action.
What caught my attention was that we are told that between, Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest was Love. How could that be? Should my faith in God not be most important? Should my hope for eternal life not be more important? How could a feeling be more important? It is because it is not a feeling.
My faith is important, but it is personal, it is a relationship between me and a God. It is something I own, it is mine. I can share my experience but I can’t share my faith. My Hope is mine; it is my personal perception and what I long for. I can share what it means to me but I can’t share my hope. Both my faith and hope are what I received when I became a Christian.
What I can do is share love in an active form. I can reach out in the physical and allow God to work through my flesh to love others unconditionally.
I grabbed a quote from a movie I watched (I can’t remember the movie so I can’t give credit). I think it describes what I am saying, “What you feel only matters to you. It is what you do to the people you say you love, that’s what matters.”
Loving unconditionally is not always easy; sometimes our personal feelings get in the way. It is easy to love the loveable and easy to love those that have similar convictions and feelings, but what about those who are “different”, those who are not our reflections? If we are not able to love these people as God has instructed us to, how then can we share with them how they can have faith and hope? This is why we are told that love is the greatest, because it is the hardest. It is easy to do something when it affects us in a positive manner, like my faith and my hope, I am benefiting from them. It is when we have to step out of our box or comfort zone and give love expecting nothing in return.
Giving love unconditionally does not mean we condone sinful behaviors, it means we love in spite of the behaviors and without judgment because we know we all are with sin. We can’t help it, we live in the flesh. Our sins might be different but they are sins. What is different is, we have hope because we know that are sins are forgiven when we repent them. I know I want to be loved unconditionally; that is why I choose to love unconditionally. Unless I can love someone without conditions, I can’t not expect to be able to share the hope I have because of my faith in Jesus Christ.
The greatest of these is Love…. And Love is a Verb.
God intended for the word love to be a verb.
As a noun the word love explains how we feel, how it affects us personally. As a verb, it shows our selfless action to share Jesus to a hurting world in a Christ like manner.
I have been reading and rereading 1 Corinthians 13:13. As much as I am what some would call a hopeless romantic and desire the feelings that love brings to my heart. I don’t think God was talking about a feeling. He was talking about an action.
What caught my attention was that we are told that between, Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest was Love. How could that be? Should my faith in God not be most important? Should my hope for eternal life not be more important? How could a feeling be more important? It is because it is not a feeling.
My faith is important, but it is personal, it is a relationship between me and a God. It is something I own, it is mine. I can share my experience but I can’t share my faith. My Hope is mine; it is my personal perception and what I long for. I can share what it means to me but I can’t share my hope. Both my faith and hope are what I received when I became a Christian.
What I can do is share love in an active form. I can reach out in the physical and allow God to work through my flesh to love others unconditionally.
I grabbed a quote from a movie I watched (I can’t remember the movie so I can’t give credit). I think it describes what I am saying, “What you feel only matters to you. It is what you do to the people you say you love, that’s what matters.”
Loving unconditionally is not always easy; sometimes our personal feelings get in the way. It is easy to love the loveable and easy to love those that have similar convictions and feelings, but what about those who are “different”, those who are not our reflections? If we are not able to love these people as God has instructed us to, how then can we share with them how they can have faith and hope? This is why we are told that love is the greatest, because it is the hardest. It is easy to do something when it affects us in a positive manner, like my faith and my hope, I am benefiting from them. It is when we have to step out of our box or comfort zone and give love expecting nothing in return.
Giving love unconditionally does not mean we condone sinful behaviors, it means we love in spite of the behaviors and without judgment because we know we all are with sin. We can’t help it, we live in the flesh. Our sins might be different but they are sins. What is different is, we have hope because we know that are sins are forgiven when we repent them. I know I want to be loved unconditionally; that is why I choose to love unconditionally. Unless I can love someone without conditions, I can’t not expect to be able to share the hope I have because of my faith in Jesus Christ.
The greatest of these is Love…. And Love is a Verb.
Patty Whitaker
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