CHRIST-CENTERED LOVE

I Corinthians 13.6

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ... I Corinthians 13.4-8a

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  I Corinthians 13.6

Delight: to be happy, joyful, cheerful, rejoice

Evil: injustice, unrighteousness, wrongdoing

I don’t get excited when bad things happen to other people.

Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice … Proverb 24.17

My heart is grieved when I see injustice

I don’t participate or encourage behavior that grieves the heart of God.

All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following it’s desires and thoughts … by grace you have been save.   Ephesians 2.3,5

“Some of the effects of (love) are stated, that we may know whether we have this grace; and that if we have not, we may not rest till we have it. This love is a clear proof of regeneration, and is a touchstone of our professed faith in Christ.”  Matthew Henry

Truth: true, righteous, holiness, the gospel

 “… holiness of heart and life.”   John Wesley

“For by truth the Hebrews mean righteousness.”  Geneva Study Bible

"The truth is the Gospel truth, the inseparable ally of love.”  Jamieson-Fausset-Brown  

My greatest joy comes from living a life that pleases God.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  John 17.17 

I am the … truth …  John 14.6

I am encouraging others to love God and follow him.

It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.  3 John 3.3-4

… now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.  I Thessalonians 3.8

I am willing to intervene when someone I love is drifting far from God.

An evasive eye is a sign of trouble ahead, but an open, face-to-face meeting results in peace. Proverbs 10.10 (The Message)