What is Love? (2)

Today, we continue from where we stopped last Sunday.

6. Love does not parade itself (1 Cor. 13:4). AGAPE is not boastful or vainglorious.

Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (KJV).

What does it mean to be boastful? It means to show excessive pride and self-satisfaction in one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities.

To boast is to speak of your deeds, abilities, or characteristics in a manner that shows pride or self-satisfaction. 

A boastful person most often boasts about himself – his skill, his possessions, or the things that he has accomplished.

7. Love is not puffed up (1 Cor. 13:4). Agape is never arrogant and inflated (distended through being filled with air or gas) with pride. Agape is not puffed up by your position in the society or achievements in life.

8. Love does not depend on its resources for sustenance (1 Cor. 13:4). True AGAPE love depends entirely on God for its sustenance.

9. Love does not behave rudely (1 Cor. 13:5). It is not rude (unmannerly; bad behavior, or plain bad manners, disrespectful, ill-mannered) and does not act in a way that is not right or proper (1 Cor. 13:5).

10. God-kind of love does not seek her own (1 Cor. 13:5). It does not insist on its own right or its own way, for it is not self-seeking. This means that divine love is not selfish. It does not put itself and its own interests first.

Agape love does not insist on his right as the “man of the house,” or the first son of the family. Agape love does not insist on its own way. As long as you are contending for your rights, you are not walking in love toward others.

This means that divine love is not selfish. Rather, it is selfless. It does not put itself and its own interests first.

Do you seek your own interests first or do you put another person’s welfare first? Putting other people’s interest first is an evidence of walking in AGAPE love.

11. Love is not easily provoked (1 Cor. 13:5). It is not touchy (easily offended) or fretful (feeling distressed or irritated) or resentful (feeling bitter or annoyed about having been badly treated).

12. Love thinks no evil (1 Cor. 13:5). God-kind of love does not take into account the evil done to it. It does not pay attention to the wrong suffered. As long as you take account the wrongs done to you, you are not walking in divine love. The love of Christ in our hearts compels us to do what is right (2 Cor. 5:14).

13. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (1 Cor. 13:6). It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail (2 Jn. 4).

14. Love bears all things (1 Cor. 13:7). AGAPE bears up under anything and everything that comes its way. It never gives up.

You hear people say, “I just can’t love him/her anymore.” God-kind of love can bear up under anything and everything that comes to it, without weakening or coming to an end. And since the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart, then you can bear up under everything and anything that comes.

Maybe you’ve said, “I can’t take this any longer.” But God’s love working in and through you can.

Just think of how God is putting up with all of us. If God told us to love one another, then we can do it. Why? Because God is love, and we are partakers of His love which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that lives in the spirit-man of each Born Again believer (Rom. 5:5).

Love is the nature of God. And when we got Born Again, this nature (of love) was imparted to our spirit-man by the Holy Ghost that lives there.

God-kind of love bears up under anything. If we would just walk in the light of God-kind of love, we will never weaken. We will be able to just go on loving people whether our flesh feels like it or not. We are to love people with the same love that God is.

When people say something against you or do you wrong, it will hinder your walk with God if you resort to criticizing them, or retaliate by saying anything bad about them.

So it is better to do good for those who wronged you, because by so doing you’ll put God’s love to work in your situation.

Getting involved in someone else’s downfall will affect you both physically and spiritually. It will hinder your spiritual growth. Therefore, rather than contributing to someone else’s downfall, help him by contributing to his success.

How can one contribute to someone else’s success? i) You do so by praying for him. ii) You can stop criticizing or saying negative things about that person, and  iii) You can also do good to that person (Matt. 5:44).

It is better to let the LORD handle the wrongs done against you than you getting involved yourself. This is so because once you get involved, you’ll get into trouble spiritually.

15. Love believes all things (1 Cor. 13:7). Agape love is ever ready to believe the best about every person.

16. The God-kind of love hopes all things (1 Cor. 13:7). What does it mean to hope? To hope is to expect the fulfilment of a desire or wish. As humans, we need hope to help us deal with pain in the present and fear for the future. Worldwide poverty, hunger, disease, destruction, and everyday suffering create a longing for something better. The hopes of AGAPE love are fadeless under all circumstances.

Where can I go daily to reinforce my hope? Each day I can visit God’s Word and have my hope renewed and reinforced. His Word never fails or wavers (Rom. 15:4).

17. The God-kind of love forgives. One characteristics of God-kind of love is that it forgives. Some Christians say, “Well, I just can’t forgive.” But that does not line up with the Scriptures, because the God-kind of love has been shed abroad in your heart (Rom. 5:5).

One way you practice God-kind of love is to forgive. Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

The God-kind of love is full of kindness and is tender-hearted. And since God-kind of love is full of kindness and is tender-hearted, it is always ready to forgive.

18. God-kind of love is a peacemaker. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

1 Peter 4:8 says, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (Jn. 13:35).

The love of God can transform (change) anyone. God’s love working through us and reaching out to others can change anyone, even the vilest criminal, because the God-kind of love can soften the hardest heart.

19. Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). God-kind of love never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.

Love ALWAYS wins! The closer you walk with God and His love dominates you, the more you’ll forgive and pay no attention to wrongs done to you. Therefore, if a husband and wife would walk in love, their marriage would never fail. If the people in House of Glory will walk in love toward each other, the church will never fail.

I challenge you to come out of your comfort zone, and confront AGAPE love for what it really is. Now think about the situations you have in your marriage and in your relationship with people. And God says that we should love one another unconditionally.

God-kind of love says, “I love (AGAPE) you in spite of your shortcomings.”

We must learn to make God-kind of love our greatest aim in life. Walking in the love of God would solve all the problems at home, in the church, and even in your marriage.

God-kind of love has already been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that lives in our spirit-man. You only have to learn how to tap into that love.

Romans 5:5 says, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

1 John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

Question: Can love grow? Yes! Love can grow and mature because it is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). Love is also the fruit of the recreated human spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit who is the source of this fruit resides in our recreated human spirit. Realize that you received the fruit of the Spirit the very moment you became Born Again.

Watch out for the next edition of Good news from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)         25.04. 2021