Standing Firm in Love

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1st Corinthians 13:13

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
1st Peter 4:8

Hailey from Now All I Know is Grace started a cool project called The Fruit of the Spirits and every month you focus on a particular fruit of the spirit. Last month the topic was love. Later this month we went to D3 youth conference and one of the speakers preached about love. He spoke about the two aspects of love that are important.

1) Love is superior (1st Corinthians 13:1-3)
Paul is not saying other gifts are totally useless but that love beats them all.

I can...
1) have faith that can move mountains (vs.2)
2) be a giver (vs.3)
3) be a martyr (vs.3)
BUT if I do not have love I am still nothing,

Love affects everything you do.

It is #1

2) Love is action - a verb

Love is easier said than done. (can I get an AMEN)

Love is...
1) Patient - slow to anger, slow to offend
2) Kind - gentle, not harsh
3) Not jealous - doesn't burn with envy
4) Does not brag - doesn't think the best of himself
5) Not arrogant - Is humble.
6) Not wrong - acts right
7) Doesn't seek its own - not selfish
8) Not irritable - not agitated
9) Not resentful - love is forgiving. it covers a multitude of sin.
10) Doesn't find pleasure in sin - it finds pleasure and rejoices in truth.

Love...
11) Believes all things
12) Bears all things
14) Hopes all things
15) Endures all things

The speaker told us to think of the areas we could work on in this list. I know I could work on EVERY single area in this list, but I have some I really need to work on. I encourage you to study this list and pray for love in your life.  Pray to God for strength to fight the temptation of hate we face daily. Remind yourself constantly of how you can love more.

Stand firm in love.

bouncing in to say bye,
                                   Bernie

Good Apples Friday // The Word Hate Part 2

Welcome to Good Apples Friday

Today I'm making a part 2 of my post about the word HATE.

If you haven't read it yet I would recommend you to. You can check it out right here.

Yesterday as I watched Usian Bolt, said to be the best runner of all time run.

These couple of races he's ran, have been easy for him because of the giant lead he has over all the runners. Great story. Awesome guy. What's so bad about him you might think?

He's addicted to the camera. He's said plenty of times, "I'm number one." Millions of people admire him and idolize him and he loves it. He feeds off it.

As I watched him I thought in my mind,

"I HATE HIM."

One thing I don't like to see is people bragging and telling others that they're number one.

But then I thought. What am I thinking?

Instead of hating him, I should pray for him.

He's lost.

He does not know Christ.

He runs for one thing. His glory.

Instead of hating him I should pray for him.

Pray that he would find Jesus.

That he would realize who number one is.

That he would give his life to God, not himself.

Many lives out there are lost.

I often always think bad things about them.

Instead I should love them

Pray for them.

Hate their sin.

Not them.

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Jeremiah 29:12

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:27-28

We need to love others. Not hate them.

And this is my prayer.

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

Lord, help me and all of these readers to love others. To not hate others for the wrong that they are doing, but love them and pray for them. Bind love around my neck and never let it leave me. I want to love like you. Help me to love more Jesus.

bouncing in to say bye,

                                    bernie

Late Good Apples Friday // His Amazing Love for Us.

Welcome to the Late Good Apples Friday

Yeah I'm late. I'm sorry. I'm not even going to say my excuse. It's pretty dumb.
But I'm still here.




Today I want to talk about loving one another.
And caring for one another.


Actually while I was folding laundry yesterday my mom was watching FireProof on the tv. And in the movie the character was complaining about loving his wife so much and sacrificing time for her, but all she would do was get mad at him for being nice to her and almost discouraging him to be nice because she would receive his gifts with lots of unthanks. When he was telling this to his father he stood there right by a wooden cross just listening to him.


I know in my life I can sometimes be tired of doing things for my family like cleaning and receiving nothing back. Sometimes I think the least they could do is keep it clean and not clutter it again. Sometimes I complain when I'm doing so much work for them and they ask me to do more things like take out my dog when it really is my turn. They could've been nice and took him out for him even though it was my turn. And sometimes I get mad about that.


But we need to look at Jesus. He died for us so that we could follow him and have eternal life with him. And what did we do? We constantly sinned against him and refused to follow him. This world has seen Jesus him who died for us, loved us, and forgives every single sin that we have done and what do we do? We sin more. We focus our eyes on things other than him. We make other things idols other than him. We hate him. We sin against him and don't even think it's a big deal.
But God died for us. He saw what we did for him. And despite that he loved us enough to die for us.


God you are amazing! Your love is perfect.
It is stronger than words can express.
Even though they spat in your face not knowing that you were going to die for them.
you loved them.
And even though my friends and family sometimes are not thankful for my caring for them.
Help me to love them and help care for them.
No matter what.
Help me to love like you, Lord.

bouncing in to say bye,

                                     bernie

P.S. BIG STORY COMING THIS TUESDAY. YOU'RE GONNA WANNA HEAR IT.

the word HATE

HATE

verb (used with object), hated, hating.

1.

to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:

to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.

I've been trying to get better and not say hate so much. 

Hate really is a strong word. 

And when we say we hate someone that means a lot. 

God told us to love everyone. 

If you hate something or someone that makes you a hater. 

             HATER 

a person who has an intense dislike for another person or thing (often used in combination): I'm abig hater of opera.

2.

Informal. a person who thrives on showing hate toward, criticizing, or belittling other people or things, usually unfairly:

The guy is just a hater, looking for a fight.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't want anybody saying I'm a hater. 

We might hate someone because of their sin. 

John 3:15 says this,

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

When we hate people for their sin we don't recognize that we have the same sin too. 

In Romans 3:10 it says, 

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

In Mathew 7:1-5 is says to, 

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

We don't not understand that we are sinners too. 

We forget that we're not perfect either. 

But instead of hating each other we need to love. 

We need to forgive each other. 

I love these verses telling how God forgave us. 

Hebrews 10:17

Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

Isaiah 1:18

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Everyday we want to be more like Jesus. 

We need to forgive like Jesus does. 

And we need to love each other. 

Not hate each other. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

5 It is not rude, 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. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

1 John 4:18-19

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 

19 We love because he first loved us.

John 15:13

13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Colossians 3:14

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

One quote I love that I remembering when I say I hate someone. 

This is so true! 

I love it! 

Next time when you say you hate someone I hope you remember this. 

And I'll end on this. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.