"What is Love?" Bible Study
Week 8
"Why Do We Show Love?"
Verse of the Week:
1 Corinthians 13:7
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
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This week, we are going to talk more about the actions of love-- how you can show love in every day life. Sometimes people don't always tell you they love you, but you know they do by their actions. That is our topic today.
Before we get into the post, I'd love for you to go back and re-read what you wrote in your notebook for your daily verses leading up to this week.
Do any stand out to you?
James 5:19-20 really stood out to me. "My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings that person back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins."
To help bring a sinner back to the 'good side' saves that person from 'death'. I had never thought of it that way before.
How can we do that if we don't love them? If we just give up on them? Truthfully-- we can't.
Can you imagine the people who would (and have) gone to Hell because people have given up on them? That's not a great thought. That's why Paul was so big on us loving each other. People take care of those they love. If you try to love everyone, you will try to help them-- no matter what (now the ways of helping will be totally different, but the idea is the same).
So far, we have learned about what love IS-- patient, kind, keeps no record of being wronged..
And...
what love is NOT-- jealous, boastful, rude, demands its own way.
Today, we will learn more as we complete the "Love is.." portion of this chapter.
1 Cor. 13:7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Wow... that is a lot! A lot to take in-- and a lot to do!
But like we have talked about before, the point of this study is NOT to be perfect in this. It isn't going to make our heart magically grow 3 sizes and all of our actions show love toward all mankind. No. The point is to learn what love is so that we will be able to strive to show it well, and to know WHY we are showing love to others. (to encourage, to inspire, and to help to lead them to God)
Notebook Question: Have you ever had someone in your life who you always saw the best in-- but everyone else thought you were silly-- even gullible-- for thinking that? What did you say to the 'naysayers'? How did it turn out? (Even if the 'world' was right and that person did end up treating you wrong, you did the right thing by showing them love. You can only do your part!)
Paul said, "Love is always hopeful." Always hoping that today will be the day that that person gets their head out of the sand and changes. And it may never happen, we all know that. But we still have that hope.
We have some people in our lives that will call us bat crazy for thinking like that!
Paul didn't think you were crazy. He thought you were doing the right thing.
He had the right idea.
So, how in the world can we do (or attempt to do) all of these things?
Truth be told, you can't do any of these things of the "world". There is no self-help book, no Dr. Phil show, no human device that can help you learn how to do it. It is through the Holy Spirit that we even have the chance-- the shot-- the attempt-- at true love (ok, that sounded a bit redundent, but you get the idea).
I want you to think of certain situations going on in your life right now where you might need help showing love.
Keep thinking of that circumstance as we go through each point in this verse and list ways we can show love based on it. If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them from you. You can leave them in comments if you'd like :)
1. Love Never Gives Up. *We've talked a little about this. If we love someone, we aren't going to give up on them-- HOWEVER, sometimes we don't have to keep giving them everything. Sometimes our prayers go along way past material things.
Ideas on how to do this: *Continual prayers *Communication *Finding Available Resources to help that person
2. Love Never Loses Faith *It is so hard not to lose faith in someone, especially the 50th time they have done something to us. And the world may think we are crazy (and we might be), but Paul said that this is a part of showing love. Never losing faith-- and I'm going to add-- Never losing faith that GOD can/will change their life.
Ideas on how to do this: *Pray *Believe in Matthew 19:26 (With God all things all things are possible.) *Sending encouraging messages
3. Love is Always Hopeful *Love always looks at the bright side... the glass is half full persona.
Ideas on how to do this: *Look forward-- not backward *Never stops having faith *Be "Gullible" but not stupid
4. Love Endures through Every Circumstance *Everyone has bad days. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a bad week. We all have people in our lives that we just know that they have a gray cloud continually over their head (and it was probably put there themselves.) It is so easy not to show love to those kinds of people because (in our head) we know that it probably won't do any good. But our heart keeps enduring that hope that today will be the big turn around day. It may sound counterproductive, but it is what we are supposed to do.
Ideas for how to do this: *Not being overwhelmed (a bit hard for me personally)-- even when the task seems large. *Know that "This too shall pass." *Focus on positive rather than negative
Love can live on even through anger, bitterness, and sorrow. But it is like a seed that needs to be watered. If it is taken care of, it has strong roots that can endure strong wind storms. If its not, it will be washed away in a summer rainstorm.
Through love, we can forgive, forget, and move on (not that it is easy). We can hope for the future, trust in the now, and rejoice in the truth-- that no matter what, God is God--- and God is good!
Ok, during weeks 2-4 we studied why love was necessary-- Why we needed to love others.
Then the past 4 weeks, we have discussed the actions of love. The verbs of love, if you will.
For the remaining weeks, we will discuss the Supremacy of love. Why having and nurturing love in your heart for others is, in a word, awesome!
Next week, we will be covering 1 Corinthians 13:8-10. Those verses fit so well together that it would be counterproductive to learn them apart.
Verses to Get us Ready for Next Week
Tuesday~ John 13:34
Wednesday~ Ephesians 3:16-19
Thursday~ 1 Corinthians 13:8
Friday~ 1 Corinthians 13:9
Saturday~ 1 Corinthians 13:10
Much love and have a great week!!
Kelly