OUR DAILY BREAD : LOVE IS FOR LOSERS?

[cimi]

JULY 14
TUESDAY


LOVE IS
FOR LOSERS?

READ:
1 Corinthians 13
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Now abide faith, hope,
love, these three; but
the greatest of these
is love.
__1 Corinthians 13:13
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You can learn a lot about a person by what his or her T-shirt says. Recently, one of these messages caught my attention as I walked through a local shopping mall. A young woman wore a bright red T-shirt that said, "Love Is for Losers." Maybe she thought it was clever or provocative, even funny. Or perhaps she had been hurt by a relationship and had pulled away from others rather than risk being hurt again. Either way, the T-shirt got me thinking.

Is love for losers? The fact is, when we love, we take risks. People could very well hurt us, disappoint us, or even leave us. Love can lead to loss.

The Bible, though, challenges us to higher ground in loving others. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes what it means to live out God's kind of love. The person who exercises godly love doesn't do so for personal benefit or gain but rather "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (13:7). Why? Because godly love endures beyond life's hurts by pulling us relentlessly toward the never-diminishing care of the Father.

So, perhaps love is for losers--for it is in times of loss and disappointment that we need God the most. Even in our struggles, we know that "love never fails." __Bill Crowder
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`````````````````Unfailing is Gods matchless love,`````````````````
````````````````````So kind, so pure, so true:````````````````````
`````````````````And those who draw upon that love```````````````
``````````````Show love in what they do. __d. De Haan````````````
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God's love never fails.

***************Today's Bible Reading __ 1 Corinthians 13**********

1 Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of
angels, but have not love, I
have become sounding brass
or a clanging cymbal. 2 And
though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith,
so that I could remove
mountains, but have not love,
I am nothing. 3 And though I
bestow all my goods to feed
the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, but
have not love, it profits me
nothing.

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.

8 Love never fails. But
whether there are prophecies,
they will fail; whether there
are tongues, they will cease;
whether there is knowledge,
it will vanish away. 9 For we
know in part and we
prophesy in part. 10 But when
that which is perfect has
come, then that which is in
part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I
spoke as a child, I understood
as a child, but when I became a
man, I put away childish
things. 12 For now we see in a
mirror, dimly, but then face
to face. Now I know in part,
but then I shall know just as I
also am known.

13 And now abide faith,
hope, love, these three; but
the greatest of these is love.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

So many things in life will fail us. But God's supernatural love is
indestructible (v.8). It reflects His divine character and will be with
us through time and in eternity. God's love is tireless in seeking the
good of others. __Dennis Fisher