Love

Love is something everyone thinks about. How can they not? It's everywhere. But do we really know what love is? I'm not so sure aboutmost people now.

1 Corinthians, chapter 13 reads:
"If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth, but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. 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 be of no value whatsoever.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear.

It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.

There are three things that will endure-faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love"

I had a conversation wiht a friend last nigh about love. How love comes from God, because God is love. How if you truely love someone, you love God too, because love comes from God. I had never thought of it that way, but once I did, it made so much sense. I guess it was one of those things that I had heard so many times, I just thought I knew all about it. And yet again, it turns out I was wrong! But, I was wrong about love because I'm a teenager, and I get caught up in the "I've heard a little about it, I know everything about it" thing every once in a while. And this was one of those things.

It seems that the thing I've learned the most about in the last two years is love, and more specifically, God's love. God's love amazes me. Last night and this morning, I looked up "love" in the concordance of my study bible, and read most of the passages that had to do with love. And I was blown away. God's love is just so incredible. It is strong, and faithful, it never backs down, or goes away, it lasts forever and ever, no matter what you say or do, God loves you. This blows my mind away. God loves us, no matter how many times we mess up in life. And no matter what it is that we mess up. He still loves us. He's loved us since the beginning of time. And He will continue to love us for eternity. Unconditionally. No matter what. He loves us.

The song "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band has been going through my head this week. I love that song. And after the conversation I had with my friend about love, and reading what's written in the bible concerning love, listening to this song makes me appreciate God's love so much more than I ever have before. It's one of those little things, that a lot of us take forgranted, but it can change our lives, if we accept His love, and learn just how much He really loves us.

Last night I asked God to fill my heart with His love, and I asked that He would help me to express that love to everyone I meet. I've noticed that I've started to change, yet again. I'm seeing people in a different way, and I can feel the love of God inside me, reaching out toward them. It is the most incredible thing I've ever felt. I can't really explain it. But it is mind-blowing.

Verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 13 reads: There are three things that will endure forever- faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love. That's the thought I will leave you with today. The greatest of these is love.