I awoke early this morning with the “Love Chapter” of the Bible on my mind:

1 Corinthians 13. I got up and read it in several different translations of the Bible. I had not read this passage in (The Message, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrased version), until today. I found it was written in such an understandable way that it left no doubt about what love isn’t and what love is. I decided to use this message of love for my devotional today. May the Lord speak to your heart as He did to mine.

The Way of Love

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain,“Jump” and it jumps, but if I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.”

Prayer: Father, we want to be so filled with love, that people will see Jesus in us. We realize that we can’t change ourselves on the inside, but Your Holy Spirit can. Today, we yield the control of hearts and minds and actions to You and thank You for producing love in us. Amen.

By Katherine Kehler
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  A Bible Study on How God Demonstrates His Love

• Your Father’s Heart Longs for You 

•  Salvation Explained

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The post The Way of Love appeared first on Thoughts About God.