What Is Love?

It seems that most people understand love to be this warm, emotional feeling you have for someone to whom you are attracted. But that isn't the love that Jesus commanded you to have for God, for your spouse, for your fellow Christian, for your neighbor and even for your enemy. The characteristics of this love are described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a:

Charity [agape love] 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. Charity never faileth...

My encouragement to you is to pick someone in your life that you know you need to love, but you have trouble loving, and then consider the "love characteristics" you should have for that individual. It can be a man or a woman or a boy or a girl; I am going to refer to that person as "he".

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind." You are to be patient in spite of the things you may have suffered from him. He may be inconsiderate or antagonistic. He may be selfish. He may talk too much or ignore you and your needs. He may cause you many trials because of his actions. Those who sin against you are likely the most difficult to love. But you are asked to suffer all these things and still love, not merely for a time, but long, without end. I have found that the best way to love someone who causes you to suffer is to see them as a precious soul that needs God's love and your love so that eventually they can be saved...

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Ed Anderson
(Sierra Vista, AZ)

Updates

• Audio from the Mt. Carmel (Woodland, AL) and Ephesus (Ephesus, GA) summer meetings has been posted on the Sermons page. (8/20/18)
• Audio from the Revelation series by Thad Eubank has been posted on the Sermons page. (8/7/18)
• Audio from the 2018 Taylor's Cross Roads summer gospel meeting has been posted on the Sermons page. (8/2/18)
• Audio from the 2018 Fellowship Conference (6/30/18)

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