Month: February 2016

Love Always Trusts

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Love always trusts…

– 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)

 

In other translations – “love believes all things”.

Believes – Greek pisteuo = faith, trust, belief. In context it implies that love sees the best in others or gives the other person the benefit of the doubt, choosing to believe the best about them, not the worst…Paul is not saying that love is gullible and believes everything and does not exercise qualities such as wisdom and discernment…love will believe well of others unless convinced otherwise.

-Bruce Hurt

 

When love has no evidence, it believes the best. When the evidence is adverse, it hopes for the best. And when hopes are repeatedly disappointed, it still courageously waits.

-Robertson & Plummer

 

I’m thankful that my parents trusted me as a teenager; it made me want to live up to that trust. One of my friends had parents who did not trust him, and he lived up to their distrust! Sometimes you will get ripped off when you trust, but love persists in trusting.

– Steven Cole

 

You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

– Isaiah 26:3,4 (NIV)

 

People are not always trustworthy.

God is.

 

Instead of mulling over broken trust from the past,

and approaching every person with a leery eye,

may I seek to be trustworthy

and love people with openness,

believing that my God

Who is faithful

will guard my heart

and wants me to trust.

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Photo by Nicole Stewart

Love Always Protects

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Love always protects…

– 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)

 

Love protects in many different ways. Love protects from the harm of gossip from our own mouths or others’. Love protects physically, even to the point of giving up our lives for our loved ones if necessary -there is no greater love. Love protects by praying spiritual, emotional, and physical protection over a person. Love seeks to protect one’s marriage. Love steps up to protect the vulnerable. When dating, love protects the virtue of the other person. Love covers over a multitude of sins.

– Susie Stewart

 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

– Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

 

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

– John 15:13 (NLT)

 

You are my hiding place. You will keep me out of trouble and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free.

– Psalm 32:7 (VOICE)

 

He who takes refuge in the shelter of the Most High
will be safe in the shadow of the Almighty.
He will say to the Eternal, “My shelter, my mighty fortress,
my God, I place all my trust in You.”
For He will rescue you from the snares set by your enemies who entrap you
and from deadly plagues.
Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with His feathers,
will protect you under His great wings;
His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you.
You will not dread the terrors that haunt the night
or enemy arrows that fly in the day
Or the plagues that lurk in darkness
or the disasters that wreak havoc at noon.
A thousand may fall on your left,
ten thousand may die on your right,
but these horrors won’t come near you.
Only your eyes will witness
the punishment that awaits the evil,
but you will not suffer because of it.
For you made the Eternal [your] refuge,
the Most High your only home.
No evil will come to you;
plagues will be turned away at your door.
He will command His heavenly messengers to guard you,
to keep you safe in every way.
They will hold you up in their hands
so that you will not crash, or fall, or even graze your foot on a stone.
You will walk on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the lion and the serpent underfoot.
“Because He clings to Me in love,
I will rescue him from harm;
I will set him above danger.
Because he has known Me by name,
He will call on Me, and I will answer.
I’ll be with him through hard times;
I’ll rescue him and grant him honor.
I’ll reward him with many good years on this earth
and let him witness My salvation.”

– Psalm 91 (VOICE)

 

Photo by Sam Magumba

Love Does Not Delight in Evil But Rejoices In the Truth

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.

– 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NIV)

 

True love rejoices in what is right and good. Anything that covers up sin or seeks to justify wrongdoing is the polar opposite of godly love. Love does not try to find ways to get away with bad behavior, and it does not put up with injustice. Instead, it treasures truth, celebrates good behavior, and promotes virtue. True love has nothing to hide.

– Philip Ryken

 

Think about a time that someone reaped a consequence of their own actions and you delighted in knowing that they got what was coming to them. Love, instead, would mourn that the person had made an unwise choice…love would seek to bring the person to righteousness through truth.

– Matthew J. Cochran

 

My beloved friend, I pray that everything is going well for you and that your body is as healthy as your soul is prosperous. I was thrilled when the brothers and sisters came and told me stories of your faithfulness as you continue to walk in the truth. The greatest joy in my life is hearing how my children are walking in the truth.

– 3 John 2-4

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Love keeps no record of wrongs…

– 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

 

It is impossible to love somebody and think well of them and at the same time hold the bad things they may have done in the past against them like a register of unpaid debts.

– Richard Savage

 

Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have someone to forgive.

– C.S. Lewis

 

But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

– Matthew 6:15 (NLT)

 

Only when we humble ourselves before God, recognizing what He did for us, can we truly offer that same forgiveness…

– Ken & Pam

 

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

– Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Love Is Not Easily Angered

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Love is not easily angered…

– 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

 

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

– Psalm 103:8 (NLT)

 

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

– Thomas a Kempis

 

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

– James 1:20 (NLT)

 

There is nothing that so much gratifies an ill tongue as when it finds an angry heart.

– Thomas Fuller

 

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.

– Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

 

Anger itself is not wrong. All emotions are created by God – It’s just that sin taints emotions. Sort of like fruit that goes bad. Worry is concern gone bad. Fury is anger gone bad.

– Jennifer Smith

 

Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.

– Proverbs 19:11 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Love Is Not Rude

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Love is not rude…

– 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

 

Rudeness always occurs when selfishness reigns. Being rude means I’m not concerned about others.

– Elizabeth Marks

 

Rudeness is the weak person’s imitation of strength.

– Eric Hoffer

 

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

– James 3:6 (MSG)

 

To exude the nature of Christ in the face of rudeness, insensitivity, or cruelty is a supernatural ability that the Holy Spirit gives, not something we can muster up in our own strength.

– Leslie Ludy

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Love Is Not Proud

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Love is not proud…

– 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

 

 

Godly love acts in humility,

but with confidence.

 

This confidence is not in self,

not a prideful confidence,

but a confidence in your position in Christ

and who He created you to be.

 

He created you for this – to Love God, love people, and bring Him glory.

– Susie Stewart

 

A proud man then is a kind of glutton upon himself; for he is never satisfied with loving and admiring himself; whilst nothing else, with him, is worthy either of love or care.

– William Penn

 

In pride we become the objects of our own love; in humility we learn to love others.

– S. Michael Houdmann

 

Pride will create contempt, arguments, misunderstandings, resentment, loss of community, and indifference…We need to seek others first and their well being, not our arrogance and egocentric mentality. Love lifts up God, not us.

– Richard Krejcir

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Love Does Not Boast

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Love does not boast…

– 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

 

Godly love isn’t boastful and arrogant.  It seeks to build up others, not to brag about one’s own accomplishments.  It seeks to make much of God and to bring Him glory.

– Susie Stewart

 

Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak.

– John Piper

 

Grace puts it’s hand on the boasting mouth, and shuts it once for all.

– Charles Spurgeon

 

Photo by Andy Stewart

Love Does Not Envy

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Love does not envy…

– 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

 

Envying someone else’s life doesn’t make your life better like actually enjoying your own does.

– Ann Voskamp

 

It is a very human trait in us to feel that another’s advancement is in some way a blow to ourselves. It is equally a human trait to feel that another’s downfall and disgrace in some way adds a bit of luster to our own crowns. Of course, nothing could be more utterly false.

-Clovis G. Chappell

 

In some dispositions there is such an envious kind of pride that they cannot endure that any but themselves should be set forth for excellent; so that when they hear one justly praised, they will either seek to dismount his virtues, or, if they be like a clear light, they will stab him with a “but” of detraction.

-Owen Felltham

 

The cure for the sin of envy and jealousy is to find our contentment in God.

-Jerry Bridges

 

Whenever people are jealous or selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things.

– James 3:16 (CEV)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart