My Loving Savior, in a morally corrupt world love is a confusing concept that has come to have little lasting value. Most people today still do not see love as a lasting bond between You or someone else that they are close to at the present time. Its meaning has become very convoluted. Love is in actuality the greatest of human qualities because mankind was formed in Your image. Love involves unselfish service to others and acts as evidence that I care for them. Faith is the foundation upon which I am to build my life … hope is my focus on the future … but love is You through my actions. When faith and hope align in my life, I am free to love completely because I understand the depth of Your love for me. True love is dedicated and long-suffering and intended to build up others … not me. When I can separate myself from what I am doing, I can truly act in love.
Love is more important than all of the spiritual gifts exercised in the church today. Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice and miracle working power produce very little if they are not fueled by love. Love is what makes our actions and gifts have “real” meaning. Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant to be beneficial for Your body. Your Word makes it clear that one gift should not be viewed as superior to another because they are all meant to serve Your body. You do not dispense spiritual gifts for self-advancement or self-glorification. They are given to serve You and enhance the spiritual growth and well-being of Your body. You give me spiritual gifts for my life here on earth to build up, serve and strengthen believers. In eternity, I will be made perfect and will no longer need earthly spiritual gifts.
The love of the world is really lust because it focuses of self-satisfaction. Your kind of love is utterly unselfish and not self-serving. Your kind of love goes against my natural inclinations. It is possible to practice “real” love only if You are a part of it. Help me set aside my desires and self-interests so I can learn to love and expect nothing in return. I am realizing that the more I become like You, the more I will have Your love to show others. I must never forget the benefits of love. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy nor does it boast. It is not proud or rude. It is not self-seeking nor easily angered. It keeps no record of a wrong done. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. I am realizing that my human love is shallow and I want it to become like Yours. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
I John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God first loved us, we ought to love one another. Noone has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.