Author: mary

Love does not give up. Through life’s toughest battles, it does not give up. The world tells you that if it is too hard, throw in the towel and try with someone else. We see famous relationships end after a short time together. Many Hollywood stars have been married multiple times. 1 Corinthians 13 says the opposite; do not give up. Trust that God can carry you through. There is nothing He can’t repair and rebuild if we allow Him to.

This doesn’t mean stay in a relationship that is riddled with sin, but it means that with God there is always hope. I knew a woman who once felt called to stay in her marriage even though her husband was addicted to pornography. He was ashamed and wanted out of his addiction, but he had allowed it to control his life. She knew that God had called her to be like Hosea and stay married and faithful, even though her husband was not. She had pledged her life to him and her children. She prayed on her knees for many years and began to watch God work and do miraculous things in her marriage. He freed her husband from the bondage of addiction and drew them close. Only He could bring that kind of healing and restoration.

This is not the testimony of every story and marriage, but no matter what, we can always rely on God. We do not have to give up on Him. Allow Him to work in your life and marriage, knowing that nothing is ever beyond His control.

1 Corinthians 13:6 tells us that, “It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.” God always rejoices with truth. Sin separates us from Him and has separated us since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and disobeyed God. They are in complete opposition to each other. The NLT uses the word “injustice” for sin while other versions use other synonyms such as wrongdoing (ESV) and iniquity (KJV). No matter what you call it, sin is sin and devastates our lives. It caused eternal separation from God and created a need for a sacrifice to bridge the gap from man to God.

We live in a world that does glorify sin and wrongdoing. It praises people for making lifestyle choices that go against God’s Word. It creates opportunities to take away life before it has even begun. Yet, other sins are wrong (according to their definition of wrong). The world operates without a moral compass making it very difficult to live in a society where everything seems backward- right is wrong and wrong is right. God destroyed cities and nations for that very thing in the Bible. Sodom and Gomorrah, anyone? For the Christian, the Bible is our moral compass. It defines right from wrong.

God’s love does not rejoice in sin, but rejoices in the truth! For marriages, this means that sinful acts, feelings, and desires are wrong in the eyes of the Lord, but truth heals and restores. God’s truth always brings about restoration. So no matter what you’ve been through, even if you were living in sin, there is always hope and forgiveness with the Lord.

True love keeps no record of wrongs. It is forgiving. It wipes away tears and offers a clean slate. The best picture of this kind of love is the love Christ had for us when He died on the cross. He did this knowing the depth of our sins and knowing that we were in need of forgiveness. No questions asked; He did it out of His love for us.

Imagine a life where someone followed you around everyday and wrote down every wrong thing you said or did. It would be miserable, right? Sometimes we act that way with those we love. Even when they are sorrowful, we still dig up the past and hold it over their heads. This often leads to divorce and broken relationships. I knew a lady who would come into my office everyday complaining about her ex-husband and tearing him apart. Everyday was a new grievance. She continuously recalled a nasty text she sent him or how he had failed once again. I don’t know the man; maybe he did all of those things, but all I could think about was how she is still hanging onto her records of wrongs all this time, years after their split. What a miserable life! Praise God that He is not that way with us! When He sacrificed His Son, there was no condition about it. His love and forgiveness covered our sins, wiped out our sins.

God would have every right to hold our sins over our heads. Every sin is a separation from God. However, that is not how He works. He operates with grace and mercy. He extends forgiveness over and over again. May we extend the same forgiveness that He gives us to those around us.

Have you ever been so frustrated with someone that you just exploded and let it all out? Maybe it happened before you even realized it. Maybe you exploded on someone who you love dearly. We tend to show more emotions toward the people we love more than anyone else. We may act one way toward our coworkers, church members, friends, and even strangers, and then act completely different toward our spouses, children, and close family members. Why do we do this when we know that God’s love doesn’t do this toward us?

We were created as humans with emotions. We feel everything: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, annoyance, frustration, etc. These emotions can be very difficult to control on our own. We need help so we don’t give in to the temptation of allowing these emotions to control us. We were also created with a longing to love and be loved. God gave us free will: the ability to choose Him. When we feel these extreme emotions, we can give them over to the Lord and ask Him for His help. Unbridled emotions can destroy marriages, relationships, and friendships. We must ask God for help maintaining control over these things. We are going to experience peace when we live in control over emotions.

It is easy to get irritated at others. However, giving into emotions like this only causes a spiral into a life of bitterness. God’s love forgives and is patient with others, wanting them to experience a life of love with the Lord. How can you show others that kind of love instead of bitterness and frustration? Allow Him to transform your thinking and be gracious with others.

Love is not self-seeking. It instead looks to the interests of others. It puts others before itself. Dictionary.com defines the word selfish as “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.” This is the message that the world tells us, isn’t it? “Look out for yourself.” “Do it yourself.” “Look to your own interests.” These are in direct contrast to what the Word of God says. He says to deny yourself and pick up your cross in Matthew 16:24. He also says to love your neighbor as yourself in Mark 12:31. Both of these completely contradict what society tells us about love.

We are a sinful people who struggle everyday with being selfless. We lie to protect ourselves and we try to control situations so we come out looking good. Sometimes we are not intentionally selfish, but we are so used to looking out for ourselves that we can not think any other way. When the world pushes us in that direction, it can be difficult to see any other way. We must retrain our brain to see the hearts and lives of others first. The first thing we can do is spend time in the Word with the Lord daily, reading about people in the Bible who were selfless. Look at Queen Esther who put her own life on the line for her people when they were in danger. In Esther 4:16 she even says, “If I perish, I perish.” The second thing we can do is pray for others- ask them exactly what they need. Keep a journal or a way to keep track of what is going on in others’ lives.

By doing these things, we can become a more selfless people who look to the interests of others instead of ourselves.