Love-God Expects It From All of Us
- 21stcglmediateam
- Sep 5
- 2 min read
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)
Love is a powerful emotion, and one God expects of all of us to have. What a different world we would live in if people tried a minimal amount of love daily towards each other. If every single person on this planet decided to show love, care, and respect for each other, this would totally change the outlook of the world in which we currently live. But, for all of us to have the desire to show brotherly love to everyone we meet, we need to be willing to work on ourselves.
In a devotion I read recently, a person shared how they sought to substitute their name in the place of the word love in the verses from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. I loved this idea and decided to try it. The verses below are from the NLT version of the Bible:
“Angelique is patient and kind. Angelique is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. She does not demand her own way. She is not irritable, and she keeps no record of being wronged. She does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Angelique never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
In the devotional, they went on to say that when they substituted their name, they would stop at each verse to see if it was true to their character at the time. If it were not, they would put this area of improvement before God and continue to work on themselves to grow and become better. Of course, none of us is perfect nor will we ever be however, that does not mean we should not continue to strive to be the person God created us to be.
As we mature in our Christian journey, let us look to allow love, kindness, and humility to reign supreme in our minds and in our hearts. As we become closer to Christ, we must realize we cannot follow God and say we love Him, then turn around and hate His children, our fellow human beings. This world is very self-centered, materialistic, and seems to embody/promote narcissistic tendencies. These characteristics are the very opposite of Godly behaviors. May we all choose to turn away from the worldly way of thinking and behaving and instead embrace God's holy precepts and ideals. May we learn to love as God loves.
Blessings,
Angélique 💐
To contact: 21stcglmediateam@gmail.com
