So everything is about LOVE this week… accepting love, showing love, being loved by a Heavenly Father, recognizing how overwhelming that love is… the list goes on…

But WHAT IS love?  I jump straight to 1 Corinthians 13 as the Biblical definition of love.  And it is my pleasure to share it with you today.  But the message in the very last verse is really what the focus of the entire 13th chapter is truly about.

First, the book starts out with a few scenarios on what life could look like with and without love… if i do “so and so”, but don’t have love… then life is nothing.  NOTHING.

“If I give to everything I own to the poor … but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.”  1 Corinthians 13:3

Reading 1 Corinthians 13 is often very challenging.  I know not all of us can be or do all of these things for our loved ones.  But it sure is a great starting point, a great guide for what love IS and what love IS NOT.  For instance… the chapter focuses on these things…

“Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end…”

OK – ouch!  Realistically… WHO can be all these things (or in some cases, NOT be all these things?!)  Seriously… that’s SOME list.  Something to strive for… for sure.

But it begs the question… what does my love score look like?  How am I doing on these things?

The chapter goes on … and I challenge you to read it AGAIN today!  I linked it above, but I’ll link it again here:  1 Corinthians 13.  Maybe even print it up and put it in your wallet, or on the bathroom mirror, in a frame on your desk, on the refrigerator?

Let’s keep these words in at the forefront of our thinking.

Most importantly… is how the chapter ends… the most important verse!

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.  (verse 13)

Now, GO!  What are you waiting for?