"I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies." - I Corinthians 13
Love is sacrifice. Love is killing pride, defeating selfishness so that other's may be blessed.
Sacrifice - to surrender or give up something of value.
As a culture, we seem to value ourselves more than anything else. We're the godheads of our own lives. If it's not good for me, then it's good for no one. Where once there was generosity, now there's hoarding. Where once there was care for the downtrodden, now there's only judgment.
How often do we even think of sacrificing for someone else? How often do we even see the needs of our neighbors?? And how often do the very people that need love the most get the least?
Failure to sacrifice, failure to love often equals a miserable life. Some of the most angry, depressed people, are also the meanest, most self serving types. This, my friends, is not love.
Love is the epitome of good. Love is the epicenter of true joy and meaning in life. And we must always remember - God is Love.
If we're meant to be more Christlike in our lives, shouldn't we focus first on the things listed in I Corinthians 13? Because if we gain the whole world, yet have not love, we've failed.
Love is the beginning. Love is the end. Love is the basis of everything.
Faith, hope, love. The greatest of these - LOVE.
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