love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 GNT
Context and Charge:
Again, love has several definitions. It does not mean all definitions are correct, but each is the product of origins and experiences. Films and movies will present love in a very particular way, because it is what is popular and acceptable. Human beings also have their own definitions too, which flow from interactions with other people. There is, however, one version of love that we must pay close attention to, and it is God's view. Many passages in the bible speak on love, and lay out what its inner convictions and outer professions look like. I must subject my life to God's view, so that I can confirm if what I hold on to is the correct version. I owe it to the lives God has given me to ensure my life can impact them with what God supplies, not what I have made up on my own.
These verses lay out what love is not: selfish, irritable or ill-mannered. It does not keep a record of wrongs, and is not happy with evil. I have been given the acceptable standards, and I will do well to heed; if I can submit my life to the searchlight of the Holy Spirit, He can reveal me to myself so I know where I stand. There is no use pretending or lying about who I am or where I am; once I know the standard, it is sin for me if I refuse to live up to the standard. How do I relate with other people? Am I all about what I can get out of it or can I pour myself out into other people from the abundance that God has deposited inside me? Do I keep a record of all the good I have done, so I can demand same from other people, or is it the bad that I hold on to, at the expense of the peace that comes from letting God do His work in and on you? What is your definition of love?
Conviction and Conclusion:
It is your definition that you will give room to take root and grow in and out of you. Do I love the truth, or am I comfortable around deceit and deception? Do I look for ways to promote truth in its pure form, not one that is compromised and prejudiced to look like what I am comfortable with? Remember, the definition that works is that which God lays down, and it is that which is Him and His nature. If it does not glorify him, it does not matter how popular it is, or how much men celebrate it. If it is not God's, then it is not love. Love and Truth are the same sides of the same coin and reflect who God is. I owe it to the lives that have been entrusted into my care to impact their lives with what God has placed in me. That is my gift of love to the world. It was first given to me; now, I must flow out to the world. The world is waiting. God's time of favour is here.
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