What is love according to the bible and am I showing enough of it? I don’t believe that Christians think about this topic very often. This world would be so much better if everyone asked themselves these questions, and cared about the answer they received. We are called to show love to others, so this should be a goal for each of us. The verses in I Corinthians 13:4-7 will tell us if we are showing love to others, if we only would look.

THIS IS BASED OFF A SHORT BIBLE STUDY CALLED “LOVE”. YOU CAN FIND IT FOR FREE ON OUR SHORT BIBLE STUDY PAGE.

LOVE IN THE BIBLE

Loves suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I Corinthians 13:4-7

These 4 verses contains a lot of information about love. If we want to define love, decide if we doing something out of love, or to even learn if we need to show more love, I Corinthians 13:4-7 is the place to look.

ARE WE SHOWING ENOUGH LOVE IN OUR ACTIONS

We often do what we believe is right, good, and beneficial to others when we seek to help anyone in need. I also think that we usually strive to help in ways that God has called us to help. So, here’s the question that we need to ask ourselves; Am I showing the love that God has called me to have? We need to ask ourselves this question when we are helping other’s, whether it’s someone going through a hard time, a stranger or helping your spouse with something around the house. There is an easy way to find out if you have love in your actions, the love that God has called you to have. You can find out by cross referencing your actions with I Corinthians 13:4-7.

LOVE IN OUR ACTIONS CHECKLIST

 I have created an easy to follow checklist.
Simply check the box if your heart followed through with the trait listed when you helped someone during a specific time. Examples: Donations you made, Made a meal for someone, Helped your spouse, friend, or church, with a project etc.

YES: Check the boxes with the “Love traits” that you showed  

[ ] Suffers long (Patient) verse 1
[  ] Kind verse 1
[ ] Rejoices in truth (happy for good that is happening for them) verse 6
[ ] Bears all things (take on, understand, have compassions for their burdens/troubles) verse 7
[ ] Believes all things (believe, God’s plan for them and you) verse 7
[ ] Hope all things (hope, have faith in God and His plan) verse 7
[ ] Endure all things (endure, accept good or bad) verses 7

NO: Check the boxes with the traits that ARE NOT love, that you showed

[ ] Envy (feeling jealous of who you are helping) verse 4
[ ] Parade yourself (talking about you, you made yourself the focus) verse 4
[ ] Puffed up (you are prideful because you helped) verse 4
[ ] Rude verse 5
[ ] Seek its own (only helping those in your social class, circle of friends etc) verse 5
[ ] Provoked (made others have emotions/actions other than love ) verse 5
[ ] Evil (let evil/negativity in) verse 5
[ ] Rejoices in iniquity (happy because of the situation they are in) verse 6

CONCLUSION

We know our actions should be based on love. We also know that we will often fall short of this goal. But because we have the ultimate example of love, God’s love for us, (salvation, constant forgiveness, and second, third, fourth chances etc.) we should always strive to have all of the yes boxes checked and none of the no boxes.

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If you want to learn about becoming a child of God, and what that means you can read our post titled What is Salvation? and God’s Promise of Salvation.

We pray that this blog on showing love to others was a blessing for you. We hope you search our website, Christian Fellowshipping, for more encouraging ways to fellowship with God and other believes.

References:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.