Written by Evi Idoghor, Creator of Letstalknationblog.com
Love should be the bedrock of any relationship as it forms the basis of every healthy relationship. For your relationships to succeed, you need certain characteristics that love possesses such as patience, kindness, and endless forgiveness. I know I love talking about love, that is because it is at the very core of who we are as living creatures (other than the fact that I am self-proclaimed Hopeful Romantic and love everything that has to do with love.)
Everyone at some point in their lives has experienced love at least to some certain degree. Be it the kind of love between a parent and a child, or between spouses, siblings or friends. So love or the lack of it affects us in one way or the other, which makes this topic very important.
When you ask people what love means to them. You may get answers like “love is a feeling” or “love is what you make it” or “love is a choice.” Or like the famous Tina Turner's song goes "What's love got to do, got to do with it, What's love but a second hand emotion, What's love go to do, got to do with it, Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken."
Truth is various people define love differently due to their different experiences with it. Tina Turner is clearly singing her hit-song from a low place as she was publicly known to have been physically abused by her then-husband. With the different definitions of love flying around, we have to have a precise definition of what is. Today I want to speak about love from the different perspective.
Love according to Google is a strong feeling of affection or a great interest and pleasure in something. While this definition may be correct at some level, love is more profound than that.
The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8, that God is love, and He demonstrated His love for us by sending His only begotten son to die for us. The Bible dedicates a whole chapter to love, which in fact lets us know how important this topic is. Let us dive into 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, to find out what love really means.
Love is Patient
To be patient means that you can accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious (I need to work on that). The question here is, are you willing to be patient enough with someone, even if things are not going your way? I am in no way saying that you should become a doormat, but patience is a quality that will help go the distance, even with just life in general.
Love is Kind
This is one of the fruits of the Spirit; kindness means to be able to care for someone else other than yourself. My kindness is often times mistaken for weakness. At a time it began to affect me. I started to wonder if I was weak because I didn’t want to pick a fight or retaliate. Then I remembered it was one of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, and I know the Spirit of God can never be associated with weakness. Then I remembered that real strength comes from being able to put others first and choose peace instead of a fight.
Love is not jealous
Jealousy is a trait that can lead to all kinds of evil. If you become jealous of someone, and you act on it, it most times often than not leads to hatred. A jealous person is a covetous person; a covetous person can go to any length to get what they want from you. A jealous person is a controlling person, and there is no control in love. That is why God gave us free will.
Love is not proud or rude
Love is not puffed up; it doesn’t boast. It does not insist on its way, and it is never rude. Whenever there is rudeness or pride, love is usually absent.
Love is not irritable
Love does not get easily irritated. It is patient and gives everyone a chance to be heard.
Love keeps no record of being wrong
Remember how someone offends you from time to time, and when they do it again, you remind them of the last time they committed that offense. Even if it was ten years ago, you bring it back to their remembrance. It is not supposed to be so. If God reminded us every time of how we committed the same sin countless times, I doubt if anyone will be deserving of His forgiveness. In some passage of scriptures, God talks about how He wouldn’t remember our sin anymore. We should try and emulate that character of God.
Love does not rejoice over injustice
Love challenges us to stand up for what is right. It doesn’t want us to turn a blind eye to people who are suffering, or people who are being oppressed. Love wants us to stand up for one another; there are many times in the Bible where God challenges believers to stand up for the widows and the fatherless because they do not have anyone fighting for them. Love wants us to rejoice over what is right.
Love never gives up
Love is loyal! Love doesn’t run away at the first glance of trouble. Love believes and hopes for the best; love endures through every circumstance and love is always faithful.
The chapter on love shouldn’t be something that is only read on the day a couple is getting married because, at that particular point in time, both parties are not able to grasp the depth of what love is if they are just hearing about it for the first time. Love should be something that is developed over a period. Love involves constant selflessness and sacrifice. Love involves turning a blind eye to the little things and learning how to pick your battles. Love requires wisdom, knowing when and how to speak. Love is God, emulating His patience and undying love He has for humanity.
The next time we want to throw that word (love) around, we should pause and ask ourselves, whether we are willing to back up our words with actions?
Over to you guys, what do you think? Leave your comments below, also remember to like, share, and click the subscribe button at the top, never to miss an update.
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