Pursuit22

Week 4:  “What does LOVE look like?”:

Memory Verse
{Colossians 3.14 – “Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”}

Keeping with theme of LOVE for February, this week we will be discussing the characteristics of love. As we think about these characteristics we can see even more how God loves us and start painting the pictures for how we should love everyone in our lives.

1 Corinthians 13.4-8
Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
It does no insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends!

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~Day 1~
Love is Patient and Kind.

Patient: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint; not hasty; steadfast despite opposition, difficultly, or adversity; able or willing to bear.

We live in a culture that teaches when we want something in life we should have it… right now. Whether you want a material object or a problem to be fixed, this world doesn’t do much to encourage patience. Friday night as I was babysitting 4 precious kids, I got to work on the lesson of patience with the 3 year old. These kids (ages 10, 7, 3, and 1) wanted to make cupcakes for their mom’s birthday. Meason, the 3 year old, wanted to sit on the counter and pour in every ingredient. There was one ingredient he was so excited to pour… the vanilla. I don’t know why it fascinated him so much. The problem was it one of the last things on the list. At least 4 times he would say “Miss Branneee can I pour this in now?” and I would have to say, “No Meason, it’s not time yet. We have to be……” He would then shout, “PATIENT.” How many times do we want things in life and we keep begging God, or our friend, or our parents… but it simply isn’t time yet. What I want you to get though is that patience isn’t just about waiting on something or waiting on a situation. Often time we are placed in situations where we have no choice but to wait. Patience is our attitude about waiting. Patience is holding on to hope even when it’s hard. Patience is being willing to wait no matter how long it takes. Patience is having a positive attitude even though you’re not getting your way. Patience is enjoying the ride instead of screaming “are we there yet?” every mile.

Read Psalm 37.7.

I want to share two of my favorite quotes from Joshua Harris with you….

“The irony of impatience is that only by learning to wait and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.” (This is pretty much saying that anything worth our attention in life, we will have to wait for.)

“Like a fruit picked green or a flower plucked before it blossoms, our attempts to rush God’s timing can spoil the beauty of His plan for our lives”

Read Ephesians 4.32.

We learn love is not only patient but kind. If we act out of love, when people wrong us we must be kind… which means we will have to have patience with them. It’s so much easier to not be kind. To let someone have it. Tell them exactly how it’s going to be. Or simply to ignore them. But Scripture is clear that love is kind. As Christians we are called to always act out of love… therefore we are called to be patient and kind.

-          You may be thinking this it too hard! I can’t be patient and kind. Read Galatians 5.22…. Patience and kindness are fruits of the Spirit. If you are a follower of Christ you have the Holy Spirit. Spend time praying and ask God to develop kindness and patience in you.

-          What situation do you need have more patience in right now?

-          What situation do you need to be more kind in right now?

 

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~Day 2~
Love doesn’t envy or boast; It is not arrogant or rude.

Arrogance:  exaggeration of one’s worth or importance.

Take a look at Proverbs 16.18.

Arrogance or pride leads to many other actions or attitudes that are not pleasing to God. Look at this part of the verse from 1 Cor. It’s no coincidence that these words surround it. When we feel that we are worthy or important, we often feel entitled. We feel like we deserve what everyone else has or better…. We become envious/jealous. It is also out of arrogance that we can be rude. As we just talked about yesterday, we are called to be kind. And of course we would have to be acting out of arrogance to boast.

Read 1 Cor. 4.7.

Think about who was writing this…. Paul. If I can think of one person in Scripture (besides Jesus of course) that would deserve to boast, it would be Paul. Paul who was totally religious but incredibly far from God. Who then met Jesus and had his life flipped upside down. Paul who wrote around half of the new testament. Paul who lived his whole life so sold out for Christ that no amount of suffering could stop him. … But you know what he realized that we so often times forget… He knew that the passion he had, came from God. The writing ability he had, came from God. The faith he had, came from God. The opportunities he had to spread the Gospel, came from God. He understood that there was no reason for any man to boast, because anything that’s good or of worth had to come from GOD!

-          What do you find yourself being boastful about? What characteristic, talent, or skill are you most confident in?

-          Be honest with yourself…. Do you struggle with being prideful? … If you think the answer is no, dig deeper. Look at your last week. Have you found yourself being rude, boastful, or jealous?... If so, then you like most of the rest of us are struggling with pride.

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~Day 3~
Love is not selfish, irritable, or resentful.

 

Let’s venture back the Old Testament for a story. You’ve probably heard or read at least bits and pieces of the story of Joseph. Quick summary. Joseph was his father’s favorite (if you have siblings you know how that it is). He not only was the favorite but he was special because God had given him special gifts dealing with interpreting dreams. One day while in the field the brothers threw Joseph in the pit and then sold him to Egyptians to be a slave. They made their father believe he had been killed. Once Joseph was in Egypt, he went through many trials, one of which included being thrown into prison. Eventually because of the favor of the Lord and his gifts of dream interpretation, Joseph moved up to being Pharoah’s right hand man. When his brothers came to Egypt to get food and Joseph revealed himself to them… they became afraid. They were worried that he would get back at them for all the craziness he went through. But look at Joseph’s response….

Read Genesis 50.19-21.

WoW! Can you imagine having that response? First of all he recognized that it was not his place to judge them. He also realized that God had taken that situation and used Joseph! He also responded with kindness! Talk about a man who understood love.

We get so caught up in being SELFISH that is results in us putting our needs before everyone else’s.

Read 1 Corinthians 10.24.

We aren’t supposed to look to our own needs but to those of others. But what about being irritable and resentful?

Read James 1.19.

Irritable is when you are easily frustrated. This verse says that we should be slow to anger… not IRRITABLE.

Resentful is something Joseph most definitely was not. In NLT, this part of the passage in 1 Corinthians read “keeps no record of wrongs.” We as Christians must forgive and let go of hurts from the past.

-          Read Phil. 2.3-4.  Do you strive every day to put other’s needs before your own?

-          Who is the person or group of people that you get frustrated with most easily? Maybe it’s your family or friends or co workers or classmates or teammates. Make it your goal this week to  not be irritable. To not get frustrated with them but out of love be patient and kind.

-          Think or situation in your life where you are being resentful. An event or hurt that you are still holding against someone instead of letting go and forgiving. Pray about this situation and seek God’s help in forgiveness.

 

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~Day 4~
Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in TRUTH.

Read Romans 12.9.

This verse starts out by encouraging love to be genuine and sincere. It follows up showing us that for love to be sincere, we must hate what is evil.. but hold fast to what is good. This means that in our relationships with family, friends, and even acquaintances we must not be happy about sinful actions or injustice of any kind. We should hate anything that goes against God’s Word. We should hold on to, cling to what is good… things of God. His Word. Fellowship. Truth. Service. LOVE!

Read Ephesians 4.14-15.

Did you catch what it said about truth….. It says we are called to “speak truth in love.” This is an incredibly hard concept to get ahold of… especially in our culture. In the world there is so much pressure to tell people what they want to hear. Make them feel good about themselves. While it definitely is a Christ-like action to encourage people (Hebrews 10.24), we must be diligent in speaking truth. It’s hard. No one enjoys being that friend that doesn’t sugar coat it and lays out the truth. We are not acting out of love if we don’t. We don’t act out of love by tickling people’s ears and saying all the right things to make them happy. We act out of love when we share truth! When we share God’s Word. When we tell them the things they don’t want to hear that will make  them more like Christ. That is acting out of love. That is speaking truth in love!

-          Evaluate your friendships and all relationships. Is there any person or group of people that you spend time laughing, talking or enjoying something that is of the world?

-          What situations this past week should you have spoken truth in love but you chose to say what was easy? Is it too late to go back and admit you were wrong and speak truth in love?

 

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~Day 5~
Love bears, believes, hopes, endures all things. Love never ends!

Read Hebrews 6.19.

This verse says that we have God as the anchor for our soul! So think about an anchor. When used properly, it holds the ship in place. This doesn’t mean that the waves aren’t still crashing around it and that storms don’t come. It doesn’t mean that it’s easy or that the water is going to now become smooth. It simply holds it there. When we realize how God loves us and we cling to that love as our source for loving others…. We can count on the love of God to anchor us. To hold us still. It doesn’t mean loving others won’t still be hard. It’s never easy to be patient and kind. It’s never easy to let go of envy and arrogance. It’s never easy to put others first and not hold grudges. And it’s never easy to speak truth in love. It’s never going to be easy. But we can count on love to last through everything because it is rooted in Christ.

Read Hebrews 13.8.

And Christ never changes. He is always the same and when we are seeking to look like love to those we know and those in this broken world, we need to have Him as our anchor!

-          Is Christ your true source of love? Do you try to love like He loves? Do you believe that He and He alone can help you pour out His kind of love?

 

What are your thoughts? I want feedback. Feel free to send me any question responses. I would love to hear from you, answer any questions you have, and pray for your needs specifically. Feel free to share this, comment, email me at brandycaudill90@gmail.com, or facebook message me!