The Love Walk

I Corinthians 13:4-8

LOVE SUFFERS LONG: Love is patient under trial. Love endures the test of time. Love does not give up, but loves to the finish line. Love is committed. Love allows God time to work.

LOVE IS KIND: Love is sympathetic and tenderhearted. Love is cordial and friendly toward others. Love is generous and benevolent, always ready to do good. Love gives a helping hand and is hospitable, accepting with joy its inconveniences. Love is the Good Samaritan---it takes action and cares.

LOVE DOES NOT ENVY: Love does not harbor hatred or ill will toward others who gain advantage in possessions or position. Love does not despise another person’s success or profit. Love does not begrudge another person possessing or enjoying things that they need or deserve. Love does not boil over with jealousy. Love rejoices with others.

LOVE DOES NOT PARADE ITSELF: Love is never boastful or bragadocious. Love is not vainglorious. Love does not seek out the places of honor. Love does not promote itself or show off. Love does not flaunt itself. Love is humble, and seeks the promotion of others.

LOVE IS NOT PUFFED UP: Love is not arrogant or haughty. Love is not lifted up in pride. Love does not walk with an air of superiority over others. Love is not egotistical. Love is not inflated with self-importance. Love is not stuck up or conceited. Love is not cliquish. Love esteems all as equally precious in the sight of God.

LOVE DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY: Love has manners. Love shows respect and consideration for others in thoughtfulness, conversation, and in behavior. Love is never crude, offensive in display, coarse, vulgar, distasteful, discourteous, forceful, abrupt, or savage.

LOVE DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN: Love is not selfish and demanding. Love considers the welfare of others in its choices. Love does not insist on its own way. Love is not self-seeking or stubborn. Love seeks its own inconvenience rather than another’s.

LOVE IS NOT PROVOKED: Love is not irritable or touchy. Love is not easily offended. Love does not wear its feelings on its sleeve. Love does not walk around with a “chip” on its shoulder. Love does not hold a grudge. Love does not harbor anger or resentment. Love responds rather than reacts. Love seeks to get along with people. Love is a peacemaker.

LOVE THINKS NO EVIL: Love keeps no accounts of evil done to it. Love keeps no “black books” or “black lists.” Love does not rehearse or nurse offenses. Love remembers that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with evil spiritual powers that influence people. Therefore love is quick to forgive every time and pray for its enemies. Love keeps its “account books” clear of the debts of others.

LOVE DOES NOT REJOICE IN INIQUITY: Love never carries an inward smile when evil befalls another. Love never expresses approval or pleasure when people settle things outside of God’s righteous standards and instructions. Love is never happy when God’s word is disregarded in the choices of life. Love never participates in or entertains ways of harming, defrauding, deceiving, or destroying another.

LOVE REJOICES IN THE TRUTH: Love is at peace in the truth. Love will not spread lies or misinformation. Love seeks both sides of the story. Love does not sympathize with a lie, but rejoices when truth prevails. Love will always speak the truth and insist on truth in others.

LOVE BEARS ALL THINGS: Love is not gullible, but it never succumbs to a spirit of negativity that blocks the positive potential of God. Love never condemns or makes final assessments of people. Love never allows itself to become blind to the good in even the worst of people. Love is always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Love chooses to believe the best about people as God is at work in them.

LOVE HOPES ALL THINGS: Love never fades in hope. Love expects that good can and will prevail over evil when God’s principles are applied. Love never gives up on people or writes them off. Love never loses hope in God’s mercy and grace. Love keeps a positive outlook on even the worst of situations. Love never loses hope in God.

LOVE ENDURES ALL THINGS: Love will stand its ground. Love doesn’t back up or back off. Love is not destroyed by setbacks and disappointments. Love accepts the challenges and hardships along the pathway to victory. There is nothing too powerful or difficult that love cannot overcome.

LOVE NEVER FAILS: Love never fades or comes to an end. Love will always be the eternal principle, for God is love. Love will always be on demand. Love will never become obsolete or unfashionable. Love is eternal and the greatest of all.