How is your Love life? It is to endure forever. Do your enemies see you loving them?

Recently I have had the privilege of sitting under some wise men as they taught from the pulpit. It is interesting how often the teaching is overlapping from one church to another. Here’s an example. This past Sunday, Dr. Carl Anderson and Pastor Paul Nelson taught on Philippians and 1 Cor 13. Dr. Carl gave the congregation four easy steps (love, be discerning, be holy, be fruitful) to modeling the prayer life of Paul from the first chapter of Philippians and Pastor Nelson gave some tidy tips on how we are to live it out practically from 1 Cor 13.  

Recently I have had the privilege of sitting under some wise men as they taught from the pulpit. It is interesting how often the teaching is overlapping from one church to another. Here’s an example. This past Sunday, Dr. Carl Anderson and Pastor Paul Nelson taught on Philippians and 1 Cor 13. Dr. Carl gave the congregation four easy steps (love, be discerning, be holy, be fruitful) to modeling the prayer life of Paul from the first chapter of Philippians and Pastor Nelson gave some tidy tips on how we are to live it out practically from 1 Cor 13.  Since both the book of Philippians and the book of I Corinthians were written by the Apostle Paul, the topic of love was one of the key points. The Apostle Paul says that our love is to abound, it is to be overflowing in measure, demonstrating it by how we live and interact with others. What kind of love was the Apostle Paul referring to? In both passages Paul used the word ‘agape", an overflowing love. This love outlasts other gifts and is a matter of the will, not the feelings type of love because Christ commands to love our enemies, do good to those who hate you. Further, Paul said we are to be fruit bearers in righteousness and he used 1 Cor 13 to show how it is exhibited in "real life" where the rubber meets the road. Basically what the Apostle Paul was saying to both congregations and to me in particular is that our "love" it is to be so exuberant and full of life that the world sees us in the capacity to love that they have never seen before and they wonder how anyone can be patient with others, kind to those who don’t deserve it, not envious of what others have, does not brag but instead is humble, isn’t rude to others which is a good challenge in this day and age. Is this not the agape love that he explained to the Corinthians?  So how do we fulfill the four easy steps? Here’s the challenge that we were left with:

1. Spend time in DAILY reading and meditating upon the Word (I have just the way to do that: sign up on the DAILY reading program of bible.org and "join the journey" of readers.)
2. Go through 1 Cor 13 and make a list of your challenges (ex. I am impatient, I am/was rude to another; I am envious of those who have (fill in the blank).
3. Keep a journal of how you and the Lord are working on those challenges  
4. Share your journey with another over email, letters, or a phone call.
5. Once a conference speaker said, if you have a challenge, do you expect God to help you with it? Believe me, "EXPECT GOD TO ACT". He is just waiting to hear you ask!
6. Add your thoughts below in the comments section

David