Some thoughts about true love as a gift to you all this Valentines day.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13.4-7)
It’s great if someone has given you flowers or chocolates today (personally I am hoping for chocolate) but that is not what true love is really all about (so probably no chocolate for me then?)
If someone hasn’t given you a gift or a card today, I wanted to let you know that you are loved, because the stuff that goes on on Valentines day is fun for many but it is not what true love is really all about.
True love involves being patient with people.
Love involves being kind to people.
In our friendships with people, how we reject jealousy? How can we learn to be grateful that someone else has something that blesses them rather than being jealous of it? We should want other people to be blessed and then focus on how we are blessed. Focusing on what we don’t have will make us miserable.
How can we avoid boasting? (Boasting leads to jealousy in others).
How can we be more loving to the people around us, especially by not being rude? If you are proud, thinking that you are better than others then rudeness will often follow.
Wanting your own way all the time is guaranteed to destroy any relationship. True love involves letting go of what we want and putting the other person first.
Love isn’t irritable (apparently not even first thing in the morning when we have to get up earlier than we would like!)
True love forgives and forgets. When something from the past is forgiven and healed, we need to leave it there rather than bringing it up again and again.
Love delights when people are treated fairly and when the truth is found. True love means that we shouldn’t lie to those we care about.
In this age of throwing things away when we want something new, it is great to be reminded that love never gives up. Love is always hopeful, and it endures through every circumstance.
True love is about so much more than just emotional experiences on Valentines (or any other) day.
True love is about so much more than just romantic relationships.
True love should exist in any friendship.
Love should be something that we express to all people.
True love does involve feelings but primarily, love is a choice. We can choose to love the people around us or not.
Jesus said:
Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. (John 13.34-35)
Will we love people today in the same way that Jesus has loved us?
Without love, we have nothing.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. (1 Corinthians 13.4-7)
Honest about my faith 