Love is… II

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud” 1 Cor.13:4

#2. Love is kind. Love is kind hearted. Love is not mean. God wants you to be kind to everyone around you – your family, your friends, your neighbors, and even to strangers. Interestingly, only the first two things on the list [1 Cor.13:1-13] define love. The remaining eight things God listed show us what love is not.

#3. Love is not jealous. Jealousy has ruined a lot of relationships, marriage relationships, and even friendships. I have personally witnessed a wife raining abuses on her husband because he says hello to another lady. When I confronted her she claimed to have seen his eyes looking at the lady. Love is not jealous because love is secure. Jealousy is rooted in insecurity, love is not jealous. By chance you discovered that the person sitting beside you is your wife’s ex-boyfriend. Someone she dated before you got married to her and suddenly you find yourself struggling with thoughts of poisoning his food. Love is not jealous. The enemy is just trying to set you up because fear has torment. And there is no fear in love, in fact perfect love casts out fear. The Word of God says that God is love and love is not jealous.

#4. Love is not proud or boastful; similar but different words. You can be proud and not boastful. In fact, the proud but not boastful people are the most dangerous. Some people are not boastful but they are innately proud. Some are proud and they are proud of being proud hence they boast about it. But God is saying love is not proud or boastful. Pride simply means esteeming yourself higher or better than another. It is pride; pride has nothing to do with possession, your possession is simply an amplifier of your pride, a magnifying glass if you will. There are proud poor people, even though they do not have anything, they are extremely proud. Such people will rather die that receive help that God is sending their way. Pride puffs up; it makes you feel that you are more than you really are. God does not like proud people. In fact, the Word of God says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble [James 4:6]. The Psalmist said God do not give me too much riches and do not give me too much poverty. The issue is not the wealth that you have. The reality is that the wealth exposes your pride. The issue is the pride and you need to take that pride to the cross and let Jesus deal with it.

Prayer: Father, please purge my heart of jealousy and pride and fill my heart with kindness, humility, and confidence in You, in Jesus Name.