THE SECRET OF LOVE THAT LASTS
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, February 12, 2023
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7) “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
ASK YOURSELF WHAT IS LOVE?
- Love isn’t a feeling.
- Love isn’t uncontrollable.
a. Love is a choice.
(Colossians 3:14 NIV) “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
b. Love is a way of life.
(1 John 3:18) “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
2. ACT LIKE LOVE ACTS.
a. Love is patient.
“Love is patient.” (Verse 4)
(Ephesians 4:2 LB) “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”
b. Love cares.
“Love is kind.” (Verse 4)
(Ephesians 4:32 LB) “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.”
c. Love is secure.
“Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.” (Verse 4)
d. Love is giving.
(1 Corinthians 13:5) “[Love is not] rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” –C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
e. Love never gives up.
(1 Corinthians 13:7) “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
GROWTHWORK
- DON’T TAKE LOVE FOR GRANTED.
- ACT IN LOVE NOT IN FEAR.
- NEVER GIVE UP ON LOVE.