In Place of the Word Love

I was scrolling down my Facebook page when I saw that one of my friends had shared a picture titled “Replace the Word Love with Your Husband’s Name; if He doesn’t fit the description then he’s not the one.” The picture was of a page of the Bible with a verse highlighted. With one look it was easy to tell what verse it was without it being stated on the picture.

The verse was First Corinthians 13:4-7 which reads “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

If we replace the word Love with our spouse’s name or more importantly with our own name, do we fit the requirement of love? Then this verse would read “(name) suffers long and is king; (name) does not envy; (name) does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (name, I have added from here to the end) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (name) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (name) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

I know we all fail at this list from time to time, but can we say we hold up to it enough of the time to make the requirements of Love. Which one or two of the requirements do we need to work on the most? What can we do to improve and become a better person? The reason I had you look at yourself instead of your spouse is because we should not judge other people and we should not want to change them, but to change ourselves for them.

My challenge for you today if you have not already done it, is to replace the word Love with your name and ask if the verse describes you or not. If there is something you need to work on, then ask God to help you become stronger in that area or areas, so that we all can be stronger people when it comes to loving people. That way we all make the requirements of love.

Kathleen Sterling