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www.truthworks.com 25 FEB 03 devotion archive |
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HOW CAN I KNOW WHEN I'M IN LOVE? PART II I tell you the Truth, First of all, let me apologize for the typo in the last message. I wrote, “And a loving relationship is what makes for a goof marriage.” Obviously, I meant to say good marriage not goof. Hope the smile it brought to your face was as big as the embarrassment it brought to mine. :-) Today, I’m going to show you the simple test for a loving relationship. With this test, you’ll be more able to discern whether the relationship you’re in is based on infatuation or love. I encourage you to mark your bible with the following scripture. You can use it today or in the future to test your relationships.
1 Corinthians 13: God’s Word brings us wisdom and discernment. Using the scripture above makes it easy to distinguish between love and infatuation. Let’s look a little closer to see what I mean. Love is patient. This may be the simplest test of all. Infatuation is always in a big fat hurry. Infatuation will try to pressure the other person into doing things before they are ready. Infatuation doesn’t want to take the time needed to get to know the other person. Love is kind. Infatuation may seem kind to the person it is focused on. Don’t look at the kindness the other person seems to be showing you. Look at how kind they are to others. Especially notice how a young man treats his mother or a young girl treats her father. Chances are pretty good they’ll treat you the same if matrimony ever enters the picture. Love does not envy, does not boast, it’s not proud. Love is not self-seeking. Infatuation is all about “me.” It focuses on what I want, what I need and what I’m out to get. Love is outwardly focused, not inwardly. Infatuation will say, “If you love me, you’ll do this or that.” Love never forces the other by guilt or any other means to do something for it. Love is more concerned about the other person’s good than its own. Love keeps no record of wrong. Be careful of the person who holds your mistakes over your head. That’s simply not love. That’s someone who is bent on manipulating you to get what they want. Love does not delight in evil. Infatuation can drag you to places you would never dream of going. Love is all about what is good and best for the other person. As you can see, the definition of love has less to do with romance and more to do with being outwardly concerned about the other person before being concerned about self. It puts self last. Now here is your test. Whenever you’re wondering if you’re in a loving relationship, simply substitute the person’s name in the place of “love” in the above scripture. In other words, “Billy is patient, Billy is kind. He does not envy, etc.” Is this person in a loving relationship with you? It’s not too hard to tell when you line it up with God’s word. Now, I want to show you what real love is. Once again, I want you to substitute a name in this scripture for love. This time, I want you to use the name Jesus. You’ll see very quickly that Jesus Christ is the basis of true love. He passes every test. Finally, put your name in the place of love. How do you stack up? Are you a loving person? Does your name fit the definition? We say we love God. We love our neighbor. We’re all about love. But are we really? Are we simply infatuated with Jesus or do we truly love him? Do you have a loving relationship with Jesus? If not, I encourage you to begin today. After all, your love relationship with Him is more important than any other relationship you’ll ever have. And as we develop a true love relationship with Christ, we’ll also be able to develop true loving relationships with others. Your Servant,
<*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Prayer Requests (and Praises!): Please reply if you have prayer requests, comments or simply need an open ear. I always enjoy hearing from you. <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Copyright © 2002 Truth Works Publishing. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise specified, all scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV.
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