Love Verse 12 - True Fasting

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn.

Isaiah 58:6-8

Love Verse 11 - Building Up

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit all who listen.

Ephesians 4:29

Beautiful glistening dew drops in the gloomy, foggy January day.

Love Verse 10 - God's Definition

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  ⁸ Love never fails.

1 Corinithians 13:4-8

Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence…The world is lost for want of sweetness and kindness. -- Mother Theresa

Love Verse 9 - Share With Those In Need

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him.  How can the love of God be in him?

1 John 3:17

Winter Sunflowers

Love Verse 8 - EVERYTHING

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.  Do everything in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Love Verse 7 - Even your Enemies

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?

Matthew 5: 43-47

Love Verse 6 - Bind it Around your Neck

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3-4

Winter Walk along the Big Sioux River

Love Verse 5 - Above All

Above all LOVE each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

Love Verse 4 - Why Love?

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Love Verse 3 - Others First

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

One way God reveals His love for us is through the majesty of His creation  which  He has given to us to  delight in. So as I think of loving others, He reminds me of His love for me.  So I am including sunrise pictures from each day I post.

Love Verse 2 - The Only Thing

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6b

One Word - LOVE

At the start of this new year, I was challenged to pick "Just One Word".  A word that will give the year focus.  This "one word" idea made sense to me.  In the stressed out, distracted world we live in, it is hard to stick to or even remember my resolutions...but hopefully I can remember and come back to ONE WORD.

So I put a bit a pressure on myself to chose a creative, out-of-the-ordinary word.  Something new and thought-provoking.  But God just kept planting the word "LOVE" into my mind.  A simple, over-used word.  But yet....not simple at all.

What does it really look like to LOVE WELL...to LOVE MORE...to LOVE BETTER.  How am I loving God?  Am I fully loving my family, my friends, my neighbors, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?  Am I showing love to strangers, to those who annoy me, to those who I believe are wrong, to those who have wronged me, to my enemies?  Is LOVE the first filter through which I react to those around me?

But yet -- that's the root of the entire Christian life, is it not?  Do others "know I am Christian by my love"?

So in my efforts to LOVE FIRST this year, I plan to type out different Bible verses every day (or, more realistically, on a semi-regular basis) on my blog that talk about LOVE.  Verses that will keep my heart convicted about how God calls us to love.  I wonder what this world would look like if Christians truly LOVED others before all else?

I love this quote from Mother Teresa..."If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

So I start with the first and greatest commandment and the second which is like it...

First Love Verse for 2013

Matthew 22: 36-40

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”