Snowbirds Guide What is Love?

From Snowbirds Guide

Finding Faith
What is Love?
By Mike Rogers
Jan 25, 2007 - 9:48:56 AM

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, It does not boast, it is not proud. It is not Rude, 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…"

(I Corinthians 13: 4-8a)

We live in a time of information overload. Words hit us from every direction. Every way we turn words are flying our way. We are so saturated with information that we become better and better at shutting it out. Even worse words seem to mean less and less. They become diluted and meaningless. Take the word “love”. The average person, when asked to describe love, usually speak of it as a feeling. The depth of its meaning is as shallow as an indescribable infatuation with another or obsession with a “Harley Davidson”. In these days a person can “love” a type of sandwich just like he would another person. Its about that deep.

If we could step back from life for a moment and take another look, we might see that “love” invites us to experience much more. In the words of the Apostle Paul to the Church at Corinth we are given a view of real love that calls us to surrender much more of ourselves and receive much more from another. It is a call to selflessness. A radical shift of focus from thinking first and foremost of what benefits “me” to considering what most benefits another. It is a series of decisions each day that favor others. It is a little boy that whispers a prayer for his mother who is crying and picks up his room because he doesn’t want her to be overwhelmed. It is a man who cares about his customer and tries to go the second mile with them even though he doesn’t have to. It is the doctor who truly cares about the health of his patient, the teacher who doesn’t give up on the problem child, or the employer who sacrifices giant profits to share with his employees in such a way as to help them survive the rising costs of life. Love is a call to surrender our personal rights and needs to always win and be right in order to show mercy to another. Love calls us not to “maintain a reputation” but to become a person of no reputation in an effort to serve others. Love is realizing that life is not all about me.

Be encouraged,
Mike Rogers

About the Author

Mike Rogers and his wife Debi served as Southern Baptist missionaries to Venezuela from 1984-1988. Mike has also served as a pastor for over 20 years, in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. He is the author of Experiencing God in Your Workplace: The Kingdom Agenda, along with his wife, Debi. A Viet Nam veteran (USMC) and former corporate trainer, Mike currently works as a real estate broker-associate with Charlie Earhart Realty in Dunedin, FL and owns a pain relief footwear business.