Page 17 - 5-29-15 Friday's Edition

Local
Love Is Greatest
There are many people who boast of having great faith and claim to walk by faith, but Paul says that per- son is still nothing without love. You can have all the faith you want to trust God to heal you, bless you, and deliver, but what good is all that faith when you can’t love the people who hurt you or betrayed you?
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boast- ful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not re- joice about injustice but re- joices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is al- ways hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Verses 4-7 helps the church define what love is and what love is not. The love of God is a patient love and does not give up so quickly. The love of God is prepared to run a marathon
and not ready to give up after a sprint. Love seeks to please others and not always self. When you love like God you will not make demands or make ultimatums to get what you want.
Many people claim to have best friends and love like brothers and sisters. The true love of God will not make you become jealous or envy when a friend is being blessed and your life is stay- ing the same. If you really love someone, you will cele- brate and rejoice with them!
The love of God believes all things are possible. The love that God gives His peo- ple to demonstrate to the world is a love that believes people can change, situa- tions can change and tomor- row can be better than today.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and rea- soned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things (verse 11). Paul uses growing from a child to an
adult to help the church un- derstand their spiritual growth. As you grow in Christ Jesus you should see a shift in the way you think, act, and feel. With spiritual growth comes a spiritual change. You no longer act childish when people don’t let you have your way; you do not have temper tantrums because you don’t get what you want when you want it; and you certainly don’t stop being friends be- cause someone has more than you. Paul says the church must see itself as an adult and start acting ac- cordingly.
The things of life and this world are temporary but love last forever. Love never fades or goes out of style. Love was good from the foundations of the world and love will last until the end. Love will make every- thing in life worth having and sharing. As you grow make sure you are growing in the love of God!
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love oth- ers, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cym- bal.2IfIhadthegiftof prophecy, and if I under- stood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be noth- ing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Paul helps the people put a value to the importance of love. It is great to be gifted,
educated, talented, charita- ble, and faithful but none of this matter if you don’t have love. Being able to claim these things are good ac- cording to worldly stan- dards and accomplishments but they have limited useful- ness when they are not used in love.
Think about what Paul writes in verse 1 of the per- son who is able to speak all the languages of the earth. Speaking one hundred lan- guages does not compare to being able to speak one lan- guage of love. Love is not only a verbally spoken lan- guage but it is also a non- verbal communication through actions.
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-B