Love always protects
If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
I Corinthians 9:12
Love always protects
Love always trusts
Love is not naive trust in people.
Love finds its strength in a deep faith and belief in God.
Love hopes all things
we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you.
Colossians 1:4-6
Love is not naive optimism or putting your hope in other people.
Love hopes in God and his work that goes beyond what you can see.
Love always perseveres
Love endures all things
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
2 Timothy 2:10
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12
You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:22
“Love has a tenacity in the present, buoyed by its absolute confidence in the future, that enables one to live in every kind of circumstance and continually to pour oneself out in behalf of others”
Gordon Fee
We love because he first loved us
I John 4:19
God’s love changes the way we love others.
God gives you a vision for love that’s bigger than our world’s.
Being grounded in God’s love makes it easier to love people who don’t deserve it.
Love rooted in hope and faith allows you to focus on faithfulness instead of results.
Jesus looking love is not a passing feeling but a disciplined posture, rooted in hope and faith, that chooses to love who God has called you to love no matter how difficult the challenge or how hopeless it seems.
Bottom Line: Love chooses to believe God is working beyond what we can see.
Action Steps
Look at the qualities Paul highlights about love in this passage.
Love…
- is patient
- is kind
- does not envy
- does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others
- is not self seeking and easily angered
- keeps no record of wrongs
- does not delight in injustice but rejoices with the truth
- bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
Is there one quality of love that God is prompting you to focus on over this next week?
What would it look like to ‘adjust your posture’ so that you’re channeling God’s love and power in that area of your life this week?
Go back and look at the practice from that week.
