I Corinthians 13: 4-8: This passage deserves to be quoted. It deserves to be memorized and demonstrated (acted out) every day, to God, to yourself, to your family, and to your neighbors. This is my version, found from several translations, too numerous to mention. So here goes:  “Love suffers long, (yes, I know, modern versions say ‘Patient’, but this means so much more than that) and is kind; it is not jealous, or boastful, or proud, or rude; it does not demand its own way, It is not irritable or grouchy; It will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. [Love] doesn’t rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth. Excuses all the faults of all the others (big order), believes the best about everyone, hopes the best for everybody. Love hangs in there with you through thick and thin, forever. It never gives up. Love never fails.”

How many wives are out there who have told their husbands, “Your momma just doesn’t live here, and you’re going to have to pick up after yourself.”; and they told their kids 500 times about doing what they’re told, instead of making excuses? Or about doing the homework and not waiting til the last minute? Isn’t that what love is really about? Telling them over and over, and over, hoping, praying, believing that it will finally soak in. That’s what God does.
That “putting up with ‘em” love is also expressed in “Love excuses the faults of others”. Some versions say “Bears all things”. Eugene Peterson’s version, The Message, actually says for that phrase, “Puts up with anything.” The New International version of the Bible in Spanish uses the expression, “Todo disculpa.” That means, “Excuses all.” Reminds me of the Prodigal Son. My Daddy used an expression, “Chalk ’em off your list.” It meant you weren’t going to have anything else to do with someone ever again. That’s what you’d expect the father to do in the story of the prodigal son, isn’t it? But he didn’t do that. He treated his son like his son! That’s what God does for us; mercy and forgiveness.
Love means being humble; not thinking you have to “stick up for yourself”; letting the other person go first in line; not gigging ‘em back when they gig you; giving ‘em that ‘soft answer’ that turns away anger. That’s love. Not demanding your own way. Wow! How often do I feel like someone has stepped on my toes and I really need to get them stated. Talk about quenching that ‘loving feeling’. Not irritable or grouchy. That really is love.
Where do we get that kind of love? We only get it when we surrender, trust God, and let His Spirit come into our hearts. That’s when we begin to be able to ‘put up with them’ and truly love.
What do you think . . .what do you do?
1] How does humble relate to love?
2] How does this kind of love relate to the story of the Prodigal Son?
3] Have you ever had someone treat you like the father treated his son in that story?

          I Corinthians 13: 4-8: This passage deserves to be quoted.  It deserves to be memorized and demonstrated (acted out) every day, to God, to yourself, to your family, and to your neighbors, whether they’re lying in the road, or living in the house next door. 

          This passage is all about what love looks like in the real world, down here where the rubber meets the road, when things are not rosy, when everybody is struggling just to make it to the end of the day without going crazy. This is my version, found from several translations, too numerous to mention. So here goes:

          “Love suffers long, (yes, I know, modern versions say ‘Patient’, but this means so much more than that)  and is kind; it is not jealous, or boastful, or proud, or rude; it does not demand its own way, It is not irritable or grouchy; It will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.  [Love] doesn’t rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth.  Excuses all the faults of all the others (big order), believes the best about everyone, hopes the best for everybody. Love hangs in there with you through thick and thin, forever.  It never gives up.  Love never fails.”

          To me the real underlying core ingredient of love is “putting up” with people.  Putting up with your husband or your wife.  Putting up with your kids.  Putting up with your momma and your daddy.  Putting up with people when you’ve told them for the fourteenth time to do (or not do) something, and they keep on doing it wrong over and over (sometimes it seems like it’s on purpose).  ‘Bout the third time I tell somebody something to do and they don’t do it; or they don’t get it; I’m ready to say, “Heck with you!”

          But that’s not what God does.  God pats us on the back and says, “Come on. You can do this.  Try it one more time.  I’m here.  I’m helping you.  You don’t have to be afraid.”  And yes, it is “suffering long” when you do this with your kids and the people God puts you with.  God puts up with us so He can teach us to put up with others.  Like that verse that says, “He comforts us so we can comfort others.”) (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

What do you think . . .what do you do? 

1]  Have you experienced what it means when it says “Love suffers long”? Give an example.

2]  What does “putting up with ’em” love mean to you?

          John 3:16 is just a direct confirmation of all God shows us in the Old Testament about His love.  The way I read the verse, and the parts of the Bible which support this verse (which is most of it), God loved the world, the people in world so much, that He came down to the earth in the body of a man, in the person of Jesus, and sacrificed Himself so that His blood would pay the penalty for the sin (separation from God) for all of us. Somewhere else it says, “And if God loved us enough to give His own Son, won’t He also give us all things?”  That’s how much. 

What do you think . . .What do you do? 

1] How many ways does God show his love for us?  Name as many as you can.

2] How many ways do you show your love for God?

          Luke 10: 29-37: The Good Samaritan: You know this story.  A lawyer says to Jesus, “So who is my neighbor?”  And Jesus says, “A man was going on a trip and he was attacked by bandits, who took all his stuff and left him naked and half dead by the side of the road.  A priest came by, saw him, and passed by on the other side of the road.  A Levite, (church worker) came by, saw him, and passed by on the other side of the road.  Then a Samaritan, a “low” class half-breed person, despised by the Jews, saw this Jewish man lying by the road, and what did he do?  He took pity on him.  He bandaged his wounds, and doctored him, and took him to a hotel and took care of him.  He even gave the innkeeper money to take care of the man when he left.”  Then Jesus said to the lawyer, “Which one of these men was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”  And the lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.”  And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”  That must be what love is about.

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What do you think . . .What do you do?

1] How does this story apply to me and you, right here, right now?

2] Who is your neighbor?  Is it only the people in your neighborhood; in your socio-economic group?

3] Is it possible that this story means that we’re supposed to take care of those who are truly different from us; EVEN MORE than we should take care of those who are just like us?

          Deuteronomy 6: 4-9.  This is the passage that the Jews call the “Shemah”, and it deserves to be quoted, even if it’s just in my paraphrase.  It begins with, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, The Lord is the Only One.”   Just to let you know, the ‘Shemah’ is the source of the “first and great commandment” that Jesus spoke when he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.”  The rest of it goes like this, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. [memorize them, know them by heart] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

          It actually says all these things in this passage.  Go read it.  These are some of the ways we show our love for God.

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What do you think . . .What do you do? 

1] What does it mean:  Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and all your soul, and  all your strength, and all your mind?

2] Do you talk to the members of your immediate family (those closest to you) about God?

3] Do you keep God’s Words in your heart?  (Memorize them)  If not, why not?  Does it seem like it isn’t very important?  When are you going to start?

4] Do you wear things (symbols) on your body or clothes to show others (and to show you) that you claim Jesus?

5] Do you put signs on your house or car or gate to show others you belong to Jesus?

6] Do you talk to people you meet about God when the opportunity presents itself?

7] Do you think maybe it makes God feel good when we do these things?

Leviticus 19:18: This is the verse that Jesus quotes when he says, “And the second is like unto it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Actually the whole verse says quite a bit more. “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
My paraphrase goes like this, “Don’t seek revenge; don’t hold a grudge; but love your neighbor as yourself.” Holding a grudge and seeking revenge are things you do if you don’t love your neighbor. If you hold a grudge then you are not forgiving, and if you don’t forgive others, then God will not forgive you (because you won’t let Him). And it’s clear, even to me, that holding a grudge is the opposite of loving someone. It almost rises to the level of hating them. And seeking revenge is worse, if that were possible, because it is acting out the hatred you feel when you hold that grudge. Pretty easy to see if you think about it. So loving your neighbor as yourself is not some high sounding something they talk about in church. Holding a grudge and seeking revenge are things you cannot afford to do. They cut you off from God. If you don’t get anything else from this passage, please get this.
Oh, and did you see the last line? “I am the Lord.” This is not just some guy off the street; not some honyock that doesn’t know anything. This is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. This is the Person who is responsible for creating YOU. Hear ye Him! If I were a betting man, I’d bet Jesus was thinking about that when He reminded them this verse was the second commandment.
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What do you think . . .What do you do?
1] Revenge; what is it? What does it do to you and others?
2] “Hold a grudge”; what is it? What does it do to you and others?
3] “Love your neighbor as yourself”: how much do you love yourself? How do you show love for yourself? Do you love your neighbor that much? Are you willing to demonstrate your love for your neighbor in the ways you do for yourself?
4] What happens when you don’t forgive; or when you don’t have mercy? How do those concepts relate to seeking revenge or holding a grudge?