Tuesday's Tool - What Love is Not

I am going to personalize today's blog as I cover the rest of the 'what love is nots'. God is taking me through a tough love situation with a friend right now where He is stretching me to show love beyond my own strength. And it is incredibly convicting to look at these 'is nots' and recognize the lack of love that I am actually showing my friend. To me the 'is nots' are like a thermometer or a measuring stick. I can easily show kindness and patience, but I have to really examine my own heart and see if I am doing some of these things that Paul describes as the opposite of love. So let's highlight what love is not. (I've covered the first 2 in previous blogs so I will pick up with the third 'is not'.) Love does/is not:  note: I am adding in the words of different translations of the Bible.

conceited/arrogant/proud
act improperly/rude
selfish/self seeking
provoked/quick tempered
keep a record of wrongs/take into account a wrong suffered

Whew! Incredibly convicting!!  I could spend all day studying each word, but they are what they are!  We've all been treated this way by people and we've all treated someone this way. Nobody can love perfectly but Jesus. And so my prayer is that as we continue on loving others with the love of God, be it total strangers or our closest family members, that we would live out Phillipians 2:3 -"Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves." And that we would look to the perfect example that Jesus set for us. He was patient, kind, humble, a servant, just, honest, always reaching out to others, selfless, sacrificial. And these are just a few ways He shows us love!