Thought of the Day !!

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

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.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (The Message)

Love isn’t always “me first”
Look at God. He gave up his place of honor and glory to become human. He eventually suffered and gave up his human life because he cared so much for others. He definitely put others first.

Love doesn’t fly off the handle
William Barclay probably put it best when he said, “When we lose our tempers, we lose everything.”

Love doesn’t keep score of the sins of others
"How many times do I forgive?" asks Peter....The answer...."more times than you can count"....says Jesus.

There’s a story I pulled off the internet one day that tells of two friends walking through the desert. During some point in their journey they had an argument and one friend slapped the other in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”

They kept on walking until thy found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in quicksand and began to sink. The friend saved him. And afterwards, he wrote on a stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

The friend asked him. “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone. Why?

The other replied, “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.

If we truly are expected to display the love of Christ, we must start with forgiving as Christ did. Otherwise, we not only cannot love, but Jesus said that we cannot be forgiven either.

Love doesn’t revel when others grovel
True Christian love wouldn’t be caught dead in a situation where others had to grovel at its feet.

May we love each other deeply today as Christians are meant to love.

In the love of Christ,
greg