Love Is a Person

Scriptures: Ephesians 1:4-6, Mark 12:30-31, 1 John 3:10-11, 1 John 3:16-20, 1 John 4:7-12, 2 Corinthians 12:10

The entire message of God’s written word is based only on one thought, one idea, one Person: Love. 

Love is the reason—the compelling force of our existence, the answer to why we were born. God, who is love, created us from love, for love, to love. It is His greatest command for us—to love Him and others and to experience joyful relationships from that love.

When our loving God offered His only Son as a sacrifice and covering for our sins, it was the greatest expression of His love for you and me. Most of us have experienced this transformational vertical love from God, yet we may have a very difficult time and often miserably fail with our horizontal relationships—our spouses and kids, our parents, our friends, and our co-workers. In our failure to give love to others we’ve lost marriages, friends, jobs, or maybe just our temper. 

The problem is that our love burns out. It wears thin and dries up from feelings that have faded and changed or from painful experiences that have shut us down.

For love to last and not fail, we must have a source of perfect love from which to draw, one that is greater than the depth of our own abilities, feelings, and emotions. If God is love, will He ever run out of love? Is there a limit to His great love? 

The answer is no. And as long as we are connected to that endless Source and because of the magnitude of His love for us, there should never be a time we aren’t able to offer and demonstrate love to others.

Yet, we all fail. Thankfully, when we turn to Him He overwhelms all our failures with His generous grace and mercy, offering us new beginnings. We can move forward from our failures by holding to the truth that God calls us His own. Our weakness is His greatest strength.

As we practice loving others, we may take one step forward and two steps back. But as we continue to make room for Him and remain in His never-failing, eternal, Niagara Falls of love, our response toward others will be to always love, always serve, always give. Our ability to love will never be exhausted because love isn’t just a feeling or an emotion. Love is a Person. He is for us, He is with us, and He empowers us from His great love to love others, far beyond what we think is possible. 

Continue with me in the next few days as we read more about practicing the high calling of loving others from His great love. 

“Our love for others is our grateful response to the love God first demonstrated to us.” 1 John 4:19 TPT

Consider reading today’s scriptures from The Passion Translation (TPT)

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 13:1-4, Romans 12:16, 2 Thessalonians 3:5, 2 Timothy 2:24, 1 Peter 3:8, 2 Peter 3:9

In the last verse of 1 Corinthians 12 (TPT) Paul tells us, “And now I will show you a superior way to live that is beyond comparison!”

This leads us into 1 Corinthians 13, “The Love Chapter,” which gives us a description of love, a tutorial for loving others.

The beginning verses of the chapter tell us that we can be extremely gifted and talented, have great knowledge and a large faith, but if we don’t have love for others, we are nothing. Let that thought sink in. 

The Passion Translation goes on in verse 4 to say,

“Love is large…and incredibly patient.”

From my own relational failures I discovered that my capacity to love others is directly related to how well I believe I am loved by God. As we continue to grow in the comprehension of who He is and the magnitude of His love for us, we gain compassion and the ability to give love to others from His never-ending love. 

On the other side of this verse, our “incredible” patience, or the lack of it, reveals and exposes what we believe about ourselves. Self-importance, our own pride, destroys relationships. An inflated view of one’s self and how things “should” operate becomes a driving force, often from insecurities and fears. Consequently, our impatience causes us to press and prod others, expecting more than what is given. I know this was true of me; just ask my family. I wanted things done my way and in my timeframe. How selfish and prideful of me. Do you identify? 

Patience, a fruit of God’s Spirit, is the practice of waiting without complaining. It counters our pride. Patience is an offering of grace and mercy from a posture of humility, focusing on others above ourselves. It is the activation of restraint, power under control, willingness to wait, and deference of anger.

“Incredible” patience is developed in humbly and expectantly waiting for the Spirit of God to move in your circumstances without spilling a string of unkind words, without manipulating the situation, without focusing on yourself. Love, expressed by patience, takes the necessary time. It waits well. It listens. 

Whether in response to annoyance, or enduring for a long-awaited hope, your level of patience reveals the depth, strength, and source of your love. Patience understands and believes that God loves you so much that He sees you, has everything in control, and is working all for your good and His glory, even when it seems impossible. In my own life, being patient with myself was the beginning of being patient with others.

If loving with patience is difficult for you, connect to the Source of true love. Ask for His power and ability to love others with patient expectancy rather than demonstrating your impatient expectations. Thank Him for being patient with you. Through His mighty love, you will become a patient person and your love will expand!

“With tender humility and quiet patience, always demonstrate gentleness and generous love toward one another, especially toward those who may try your patience.” Ephesians 4:2 TPT

Scriptures: Psalms 117, Matthew 5:43-47, Romans 2:1-4, Philippians 4:4-5, James 3:17-18, 1 Peter 3:8-12

“…Love is gentle and consistently kind to all….” 1 Corinthians 13:4 TPT

Loving with gentleness means conducting yourself with mildness and evenness of spirit. It is a display of love not found in extremes of emotion. 

Kindness is an action that elevates and honors another.

Kindness offered to another is a demonstration of the gentleness of our hearts. 

However, in our efforts to love others, it is the words consistently and all in this verse that stood out to me. It’s fairly easy to demonstrate love through kindness and gentleness with those who are easy to love. But difficult or annoying people? It’s not easy to consistently show love, and certainly not easy to demonstrate gentleness and kindness to them. In fact, it’s easier to withhold love, because our feelings tell us they certainly do not deserve it! 

Often, these difficult people live in our own homes, or maybe they are our direct report at work. Sometimes, they are even our enemy. When these people come against us in their immaturity or insecurity, or especially in their hatred, it’s easy to let unkind words and attitudes spill out. Our mildness of spirit—our gentleness—disappears in the conflict. 

In these moments we use love like dollar bills, handing them out when people are acceptable to us and snatching them back when our expectations are not met and we are disappointed. 

Are we demonstrating love through consistent kindness with our spouses, our kids, our parents or are we short-tempered? Are we gentle while we are driving or are we wildly gesturing and yelling? Are we courteous with the slow cashier at the store, the inattentive waiter at the restaurant, the salesperson on the phone, or to that person on the Internet?

Courtesy, a display of gentleness and kindness toward another, is an almost forgotten characteristic in our society today. The word is rooted in the ceremonial manners used in a royal court. High respect and consideration for those we live with or meet, especially those who are most difficult, are the appropriate qualities of sons and daughters of the Most High.

How can we consistently love those that grate against us? Why does God ask us to love unlovely people, even those who come against us? 

Consistently showing love through gentleness and kindness is only possible when we acknowledge the consistent love and grace our Father has lavished on us. He never holds back His love, even when we deserve it.

Psalm 117:2 TPT tells us that God’s kindness has melted our hearts. I know it has mine and I am so grateful. 

Let’s make it a practice to melt hearts with gentleness and kindness through our courtesy to others. God’s Spirit within us will enable that fruit to increase and grow.

Consider reading today’s scriptures from The Message. (MSG)

Scriptures: Psalms 75:6-7, Proverbs 21:24, Romans 12:15, Romans 13:9, Philippians 2:3-5, 1 Corinthians 13:4

“[Love] refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else….” 1 Corinthians 13:4 TPT

Jealousy reveals itself when we refuse to join in and celebrate another’s good fortune, talents, or abilities. Envy and jealousy are part of the enemy’s original lie, a seedbed of comparison asking us to believe that God is withholding His goodness from us and that He is, instead, giving it to someone else. This type of thinking is a stronghold of bondage and lies.

Envy is a subtle, evil spirit that rises in opposition to the goodness that falls on others. Envy is in direct opposition to love. 

Envy and jealousy come from a scarcity mindset which, in effect, believes that the goodness of God is limited—that there’s only so much to go around. It is the belief that what someone else has or is given will subtract from what we may have or receive.

Envy is believing in a false math problem: You + your good fortune = less for me. 

Often, when we are triggered by envy and jealousy, our natural response is to diminish the success of others in order to feel better about ourselves—a desperate effort to balance the false equation in our mind. 

But the verse speaks to this by telling us, 

“Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance.”

An inflated opinion of our own opinions or abilities will drive others away from us. Proverbs names this person a scoffer, a mocker, a know-it-all. It’s very easy for us to fall into this category because we believe that our opinions define us and make us who we are. We are for this, but against that, falling into a religious standard of rightness. Might we actually be withholding our love for others because of our opinions? 

Honoring and acknowledging another’s accomplishments, no matter who they are or how they live, does not diminish you. In fact, in the Kingdom of God, elevating another’s importance by honoring them invites more honor to you and is a demonstration of maturity in your heart. The ability to acknowledge and honor another is strong evidence that you are overcoming your limiting beliefs about God.

Love chooses to celebrate all good things! Love rejoices with those who rejoice. Loving others by honoring them becomes a wide place of freedom, believing there is more than enough goodness for us all. 

When I have been triggered by jealousy and envy, it’s a sign for me to take it to Jesus and ask Him what’s going on in my heart. He has always been faithful to reveal it.

“…And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.” Romans 8:32 TPT

Consider reading today’s scriptures from The Passion Translation (TPT)

Scriptures: Mark 8:34-35, Romans 1:12, Romans 7:20, Romans 12:9-10, Romans 15:7, Philippians 2:1-4

Relationships would be easy if it weren’t for the people. It’s a humorous statement, but so accurate!

Even the best of relationships can be difficult to maneuver. After all, we are imperfect people trying to coexist, and the closer the relationship the harder it can be.

We all have our ways—our habits and quirks. “Our way” is the how, when, or why we do things or think they should be done. Most married couples disagree over how the toilet paper hangs, how the towels and t-shirts are to be folded, how to discipline the children, the temperature of the thermostat. Kids certainly have their ways and it is usually the opposite of the parent’s. We like our ways. Most often we believe “my way is the right way, and your way is not!” 

When your way crosses my way, there is often conflict and friction. But the choice to practice love happens at the intersection of your way and another’s. In this intersection of ways, 1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT reminds us, “Love does not demand its own way.”

When we follow and agree with God’s way, our ways lose their power over us. As we align with Him and give up our right to be right, we gain freedom from not having to always “win.” Love chooses to glorify God rather than choosing to have the last word or be right. After all, when we push to win or be right, someone else has to lose and the only thing that wins is our pride. We get to choose whether we win, or love wins, because 1 Corinthians 13:5 TPT goes on to say, “Love does not selfishly seek its own honor.”.

The word honor is rooted in value and glory. Your attitude of honoring another elevates them above your desires, opinions, and ways, and instead, offers them a position of high regard. 

Honoring and esteeming another presses so strongly against the darkness of the spiritual realm it presents an almost tangible energy as we give that person space to be who God created them to be. Love, in the form of honor expressed for another, in turn, honors God and makes room for Him.

Giving honor to someone, especially when they don’t deserve it, allows the miraculous compassion of God to invade our hearts so we can see that person as He does—chosen, loved, and highly valued, created in His own image. Our demonstration of His love for them builds a place of trust, security, and safety.

When we understand and accept the immense value God has for us, we are then able and willing to honor others from His strength, no matter how difficult they may be.

“You will bring God glory when you accept and welcome one another as partners, just as the Anointed One has fully accepted you and received you as his partner.” Romans 15:7 TPT

Consider reading today’s scriptures from The Passion Translation (TPT)

Scriptures: Proverbs 12:16, Proverbs 19:11, Matthew 18:18, Ephesians 6:12, Romans 12:17-19, Colossians 3:13

“Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense.” 1 Corinthians 13:5 TPT

Being irritated is a sign of being unloving? Wow! God’s love is a strong standard. 

Irritation can be seen in our body language and seeps from our attitudes, but irritation is most glaring in our words. An irritation is a trigger, a red-light alarm telling us to engage the Spirit’s power of self-control to hold in our harsh words. Love chooses to overlook the annoyance.

Offense is a stronger feeling—an irritation that has gone deep and taken root. Sadly, most offenses happen in our closest relationships. Painful words are said, harsh actions are taken, and offense becomes the stone you choose to pick up and carry, wounding your heart and damaging your relationship. 

Our hurts usually have a face and that’s where we direct our anger. We need something tangible, someone we can see to direct our offense and disappointment toward. We replay the reel of our offenses and rehearse the hurts, wondering if we could have said or done anything differently. We become trapped in a circular thought pattern that always brings us back to the moment of offense, where our mind and thoughts are consumed with things that have already happened and cannot be changed. We can’t make sense of it, so we try to reason through the anguish and imagine our way to justice. But reasoning will not end the pain. Our offense deepens, often spiraling into bitterness.

Bitterness and resentment are rampant in our world. Opinions have become dividing lines rather than open places of discussion. We have lost the ability to respect any viewpoint other than our own.

How can we let go of our offenses and love those who have hurt us? 

The only way to be set free from offense is by bringing it into the light, by acknowledging the incident and naming it. Then release your burden by dropping those heavy, debilitating stones into the hands of God as an act of your faith in Him. Remember, He is not blind to what happened. Justice is in His hand and on His timetable. Ask God to replace the ache from your past wounds with His healing presence. Receive His love in exchange for your pain.

Offenses cause separation but love is a bridge. Love kept Jesus at the table with his betrayer. Love washed his feet. (John 13)

Forgiveness of irritations and offenses is a practice we will have to implement over and over again because true forgiveness rarely happens immediately. But love is always here—God with us. 

As the face of your offense comes to mind, ask yourself how God sees your offender. A simple but effective question that has helped me when I’ve been hurt is: would I want that other person to live an eternity separated from Love? Imagining myself with them in Paradise helps me find compassion and changes my heart. The painful memories remain, but they no longer have power over me. 

Invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and mind as you pray, “Father, just as You forgave those who betrayed You, spat on You, and sent You to your death, I ask You to forgive this person who has wounded me. They may not even know the depth of pain this caused me. Please begin a work of forgiveness in me to heal the hurt and offense that is in my heart. Renew my mind as I focus on You rather than on my pain. Thank You for Your great love for me”.

“Whoever would foster love covers over an offense…” Proverbs 17:9 NIV

Scriptures: Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 17:9, Romans 12:9, Romans 12:21, Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 Peter 4:8, Matthew 7:3-5

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” I Corinthians 13:6 NIV

We skim over this scripture never considering that we’d delight in evil. But could our judgments against another be just that—evil? 

“He got what he deserved.” 

“Serves her right.” 

“They had it coming.”

These are words and thoughts the Holy Spirit would never inspire. I’ve been there many times—agreeing with evil and adding to its power. 

Here’s what I have learned: every person on earth is fully and completely loved by our God. He loves everyone the same as He loves me, no matter what they’ve done. Sin is sin is sin, including my evil thoughts. All sin separates us from God, from love.

1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT offers a solution to these evil thoughts: 

“Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others….”

Love should be the base point of our thoughts and attitudes toward one another—the worst felon or our resistant teen. Love focuses on the heart rather than the behavior. This activation of our love is not to excuse one’s conduct; rather, it gives us spiritual eyes to see the person behind their pain. 

Our love toward another is a safe place of shelter that covers over bad attitudes and disappointing conduct with a blanket of compassion and grace rather than expressing our self-righteous assessments. Truth, spoken without love, is a bruising and crushing weapon.

You may be thinking, “But you don’t know about my lying spouse, my defiant teen, or my hateful co-worker.” 

Even in the face of conflict with the most difficult person, we can take a deep breath of God’s Spirit, which will give us the ability to believe the best of them—to see them with His eyes. Love chooses a gracious response over an emotional reaction. Why else would this scripture say so, if it were not possible?

Love pulls another into grace as we lay these people and their problems into the hands of a loving God who is the only solution to our difficult relationships. The speck in another’s eye quickly diminishes as we deal with the plank in our own.

God invites us to step into the safe shelter of His Love, bringing those difficult people with us.

“His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under his covering of majesty and hide….” Psalms 91:4 TPT

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 13:12-13, 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, Romans 5:5, Romans 13:8, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 John 4:18, Ephesians 3:16-19

Loving another is a risk, since there are no guarantees that love will be reciprocated. It takes courage and boldness to love another. Of course, it’s easiest to love those we agree with and with whom we share the same lifestyle. It’s fairly easy to love strangers. But it’s really hard to consistently love those who are closest to us because they can, and do, hurt us. When we are hurt, we may take a step back and withhold our love out of fear of being hurt, perpetuating a vicious cycle.

But 1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT tells us

 “…Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.” 

Fear is the opposite of love. Fear cannot stand where God’s love abounds, and His love abounds in you!

Even in our disappointment, we can choose to pick ourselves back up and move forward, for love is never defeated! Love stays the course. It never lets go. When things go from bad to worse, love always moves toward, never away. 

Love never gives up. It endures and pushes past any quitting point. When we are ready to give up, Love reaches beyond our situations with hope for the future. This hope is not a vain wish for something that may or may not happen, but it is the settled conviction that God sees and is at work, even when we cannot imagine a good outcome. 

Love offers hope as a shelter for the most difficult situation.

Love holds on in hope: 

• for the meanest neighbor.
• for the challenging foster child.
• for that coworker who is your greatest annoyance. 
• for your husband or wife who doesn’t know how to love.

As we allow our love to hold on in hope, nothing will defeat it because “Love never stops loving.” 1 Corinthians 13:8 TPT

Your enemy, satan, has one purpose: to turn you away from Love, for satan is the antithesis of love and of God. He relentlessly whispers fear and defeat on the chance you will give up and make agreements with him that your situation is a lost cause. He wants to steal your influence, kill your hope, and destroy your love. If he can do that, he has won. We must be alert and stand firm against him by making a strong choice for Love.

In the collision of the two kingdoms, Love is the force that separates and pushes back the darkness and shuts down the enemy. When people are rude and unkind, choose to love them anyway. When conflict comes, apologize and forgive, and keep choosing love.

Love is a very high calling but it’s not out of our reach, for we were never asked to love from our own resources or abilities. As in all things, as we practice, we will get better. We will become stronger. We will go beyond what we thought was possible. 

Love is a Person. When we are anchored to Him, we can continue to love and give to others without fear of losing ourselves. 

“So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!” Jesus, in John 15:17 TPT

These examples of love written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 are not exhaustive of love’s characteristics, for the depths of His love for you is offered throughout scripture. As you dig deeply into His Word, discovering more of Who He is and what He says about you, I pray that your love for others will be enlarged.