My thoughts on perfect love

*takes a deep breathe*
I'm actually not sure where to start so I'm just gonna dive in and hopefully you'll catch up with me somewhere along the way.

Love to me is so much bigger than just those three words. I could tell you I love you over and over again, but do I mean it? Do my actions line up with my words? When I say I love you to anyone, there is usually a mental check that goes on inside my head. I think to myself, do I really love this person? Do I show them that I love them or am I just saying it?

I think oftentimes love has been watered down to mean something more like "like". I say I love chicken. But really honestly?? I don't have that big of a feeling for chicken, I truly enjoy chicken, it's great, but I don't love chicken. *chuckles* If I pulled out 1 Corinthians 13 and matched up my feelings about chicken with what it says, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't line up. I'm patient with chicken only to get it cooked. I'm not very kind to it, I like to rip it into pieces. I'm not gentle with it, I definitely like tearing it apart. I could continue, but I think you get the idea. So I think we can rest in the fact that I really like chicken, but I don't love it.

On the other hand I can truly say I love my brother. If you lined up 1 Corinthians 13 with my love for him, you can see that I try to be all that 1 Corinthians 13 says. I try to be patient with him, I try to be kind towards him, so on, so forth.

You know the thing I love about God is that He is the essence of love. He is love. So everything in 1 Corinthians 13, defines a characteristic of who He is. And He doesn't just try to be patient with me, He IS patient with me. He is love, plain and simple. He is love, He is perfect. He is perfect love.

1 John 4:18, as I quoted yesterday says that love drives out fear. If God is perfect love, and God is living in us, (which He is according to Ephesians 3:17), then we shouldn't fear. I mean despite the fact that the Bible says we shouldn't fear, ultimately it should be just that. No fear, because we have perfect love living in us.

Oh and man, if we are filled with perfect love, should we not be flowing in that perfect love? Should we not love others with this perfect love? It's like that other verse that says, what is in your heart will come out. So if we are spending time daily with God, learning to love as He loves, learning His character, then we will daily learn to walk in that perfect love.

I want to learn to walk in His perfect love, and showing 1 Corinthians 13 love, and to not fear and not worry. To walk according to the Spirit, not according to my flesh. But it's definitely a journey, and not an overnight thing, a journey I'm going to go on.