September 26 Thought for the day....loving and serving for others success

We will continue talking about God's love for us and the love we should have for each other. Just as a reminder, it is a love that never quits. It keeps pushing through to see the result even if it doesn't see or sense any return. We love just because He first loved us

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 1 Corinthians 13:4

Yesterday we talked about the type of love that restrains anger, being patient. Today I want us to look at being kind and not jealous.

When the Holy Spirit is speaking to us about God's nature and our challenge to love as "kind," He is saying that love is adaptable and compliant to the needs of others. When this type of love is working in your life, you don't demand that people be just like you. Instead, "kind" is the willingness to serve and adapt to meet the needs of others. When you are considering this you need to ask in all of my relationships, do I demand that people become just like me or to I work hard to work with people where they are to help them become the best they can be.

You are not a doormat; instead, you recognize your strengths and humble yourself to find the strengths and gifts in others to help them fulfill their destiny. Kindness is serving from strength looking to help others become their best.

Love is not "jealous." Jealous here could be translated envious, meaning a person who is radically consumed with their own desires and own plans. It is the direct opposite of this type of love which is not selfish, self-absorbed, or self-centered. This kind of love doesn't think of itself first but is always looking outward. Look at your own relationships at home, at church, at work and ask, "Am I committed to the success and blessing of others or is it only my own desires that I want to succeed?"Are you caught in only your own self-interest? We are a Body, a family, and when we look to help make the best for others, we are also blessing ourselves.

How does your life reflect these traits? If you are, then praise God for what He is accomplishing in you already. If not, don't waste time beating yourself up, ask the Lord to help you make the changes necessary to be who God has called you to be all along!