On Monday I talked about how 1 Corinthians 13 can change the perspective on how we choose to love God by using each part of the chapter to define what love does and does not look like. Mondays post was about verse 4, and today I am going to be focusing on verse 5.
1 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP) It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
Love is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride): The definition of conceited is to have an excessively favorable opinion of one's self. Being totally prideful, and seeing only the good inside of yourself. If your focused on yourself and loving yourself, how can you possibly see others, or see God. We have to remember that the only good in us is from Jesus because he redeems us from our sin and cleanses us from all the unrighteousness that we have. Apart from Him, we are full of sin and grossness. So in this instance, taking our eyes off of ourselves and looking to Jesus is the way we can love Him!
Love is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly: The definition of rude is to be deliberately impolite, being rough, harsh, mean, and not gentle. Unmannerly means to be impolite, or to be discourteous. Unbecomingly means to detract from your character and reputation. All of these things combined reminds me of what sin looks like. Totally looking out for yourself, not caring how anyone else feels or if you are displaying behavior that looks like Jesus. We all fail sometimes, and we all have times when we get caught up in life and forget to be the opposite of this. But if the goal is to love each other and to love Jesus, then when we do rude, impolite, or discourteous things we should remember to ask for forgiveness and try harder to remember to show love and not rude behavior.
Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking: Wow, this really says it all! The love that God put in us does not seek to do what feels good, or to ensure that it is treated right, it just loves others unconditionally! The definition of self-seeking is to seek ones own interests, concerned only for its own interests, seeking to gratify ones own desires. To amplify this meaning the definition of insist is to emphatically seek, to demand, to dig ones heels in. Can you picture this in your mind? A self seeking person standing there demanding that you do what they ask, holding love back from you, with arms folded and feet planted firmly. "I won't love you unless you _______." This is the opposite of loving behavior! This part of the verse is saying look out for what you see others need or want. Put what you want aside and think about what Jesus wants you to do, or what would show love to Jesus in the way you behave.
Love is not touchy or fretful or resentful: The definition of touchy is to be irritable, to take offense, or to provoke others. Acting fretful means to express your worry, annoyance, discontent, and dissatisfaction, and to become eaten away or corroded. Being resentful means to be displeased in the things around you, to hold onto things that make you feel bad. What examples of un-love! I know that when I am sick, or have too many circumstances that I haven't dealt with, I definitely get irritable, and have some of these other qualities that are so rotten. I know that I fret, and worry, and become corroded by things around me sometimes. When life seems to hit hard with circumstances that stink, the most loving behavior we can have is to sit at the feet of Jesus and give it all over to Him; to just talk it out with Him and let Him love us by believing and trusting that He's got this all under control, and He has a plan to make it better for the future! Loving Jesus is allowing Him to hear our hearts, and share our day with Him!
There is one more part to this verse: "love keeps no record of wrongs."
I am going to focus specifically on this verse tomorrow as its words are so special and deep, and I want to take the time to really show what it means. Keep your eyes out tonight or tomorrow for True Love - Records.
I am going to focus specifically on this verse tomorrow as its words are so special and deep, and I want to take the time to really show what it means. Keep your eyes out tonight or tomorrow for True Love - Records.
*Thank you Lord Jesus for being such a wonderful example of what Love looks like, and for writing out the guidelines for us so decently. We ask that you would keep our hearts open to hearing what you have for us, and that you would grant us wisdom as we love those around us. Let us be aware of how we are acting so that we can show our children, spouses, family and friends the love that you put in us. Lord grant us opportunities to show you love back, because we do love you Lord. AMEN*
#lovingjesus #lettingjesusloveyou #truelove #Loveis
#lovingjesus #lettingjesusloveyou #truelove #Loveis