The Beauty of Real Love

The Lord has really been showing me a lot in my life lately! One of the biggest things I'm learning is how to truly love someone. The Lord brought this to my attention through what I call a "Divine Trial", when a relationship with someone who is really close to me was going through a "growing pains" stage. Why is it that we only learn through trials? I believe it's because once you've been through a trial, what you learned during that hard time really sticks to you and you understand it more than if someone just told you everything. Something means more to you if you've had to fight for it.

One of the primary places in the Bible that teaches what true, pure love really is, is in 1 Corinthians 13. This is a fairly common chapter, appropriately referred to as the "Love Chapter".

¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

My desire in the next few weeks, is to go through this chapter and really look at each part of it and expand on each thing. I'm not pretending to know all about this topic, my knowledge of it merely scratches the surface! But I want to share what the Lord has taught me. So that's what I'm going to be blogging about for a while. My hope is that we can all learn to have a more perfect love, for each other and the Lord!

*Photo from Flickr