LOVE WALK: Practice

There may be moments when you fall short and moments when love costs more than you wanted to pay. But remember, you start from a love that has already been poured into you.

‎Imagine a man who every night reads a book on swimming for a whole year. He knows all the swimming styles and breathing patterns involved in the sport; in fact, he can explain them to you, but he has never once entered the water to practice his theoretical knowledge. It is in this very same way that believers may know about love and somehow never properly walk in it.

‎1 Corinthians 13:4-7

‎New King James Version

‎4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

‎6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

‎7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

‎Most people hear the word love and think of a warm affection and a pull towards someone, but from this passage, when proper attention is paid, you would realize that the words used to describe what love is are actions. This, first of all, corrects the notion that you only love someone when you feel like it.

‎In 1 Corinthians 13: 4, the phrase “suffers long” is the Greek word makrothumeo, which means to have patience, to be long-spirited, long-tempered. It talks about a kind of patience that keeps you going even when everything in you wants you to stop and act out.

‎And so what does it look like when that roommate or housemate of yours whom you corrected at least three times about the same mistake repeats it once again? It is very easy to feel like you are done and you can't keep explaining. This is the point where you remind yourself that love suffers long.

Paul never says love is easy. He lists things that are hard: bearing, enduring, and believing the best when the evidence is thin. If these came naturally, he might not have needed to write them down. Where then does the strength to do this come from? ‎

1 John 4:19

‎New King James Version

‎19 We love Him because He first loved us.

‎Take a look at the order: God first loved us, and so we love him. When the Bible instructs us to love, God has already led by example. We have the ability to love because He first loved us. He isn't asking you to suffer long without having gone through it. He gave His Son for us, and through that we see an example of a love that doesn't seek itself. So you are not being asked to produce from an empty tank. You have a template.

‎Name one situation where the love stated in 1 Corinthians 13 is being called for: It could be a friend that hurt you or that classmate that didn't do their part in a group project. Then ask yourself, what should be my response to this according to 1 Corinthians 13? Imagine what you would say; write it down if it helps.

Instead of being the man at the beginning who reads a swimming book and only has the idea, jump into the water and practice. Intentionally walk in love.

There may be moments when you fall short and moments when love costs more than you wanted to pay. But remember, you start from a love that has already been poured into you.