Love or Noise? What is coming from you?

I have been looking around me and see all these people who are in love, but sometimes I wonder if they are really in love, or if it is lust, loneliness or something else. So I felt I needed to answer the question what is love?

Love or Noise?

We read in the Bible about love in 1 Corinthians 13.  So let's dive in.

If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing. - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

 Without love there is just noise, without love we are nothing and we gain nothing. If love is the greatest gift how can we gain it? 

I don't want to just be noise, and I know from personal experience that without love if I say something that others may take as a judgement, it becomes just noise and that noise keeps people from being able to hear anything else I'm saying. We are called to love, we don't want our lack of love to be noise that keeps others from being able to hear about God's love.

Love is not an emotion - it is a choice.  If love was an emotion it would come and go, but as a choice we make it is an action. - God is love, but we sometimes treat him badly, but he always chooses to love us.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.- 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a

 When I was studying this I was using my Life Application Bible and it had a note for 13:4: We need to love Him & our fellow Christians, Not the visions we have for perfection here on earth. This is hard for me. I want to be treated better by people around me. I envision a day when that will happen, but when they say or do something that hurts me I fall back into my unloving attitude toward them. This is why love is not an emotion it is a choice, because Love is not easily angered, nor is it self-seeking, but most of all Love never fails.

Love Vs. Lust

My Life Application Bible had another note for 13:4-7: Our society confuses love with lust.  Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed outward toward others, not inward toward ourselves.  It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against our natural indications. It is possible to practice this love only if God helps us set aside our own desires and instincts, so that we can give love while expecting nothing in return. Thus the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others.

Love is...A choice, action, gift

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Life Application note for 13:13: Love will endure forever.
Faith =  foundation and content of God's message
Hope = attitude and focus
Love = Action

When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves.

Now that we better understand love join me Friday as I challenge me and you to love someone else.

What's love got to do with life? How many times have you been told to follow your heart, but your heart is full of emotions and emotions change. If you're like me they can change almost daily. This post helps you to define Love and see how love affects your life, friends and how you treat others.