God loves His children in passionately protective ways. He guards our very souls in His almighty care. No matter what our circumstances are, God never leaves us alone. As God’s children we can never be separated from His protective love. Never.

No matter how insane or sad, broken or frightening our experiences may be, God is absolutely faithful to us. God’s love will always protect us. Always.

God will need to grow us up, however, so that we will understand this from His eternal perspective. We usually respond to how we feel about our immediate circumstances. And sometimes they are very hard and very ugly. Still, this truth remains: God is completely trustworthy.

Our highest and deepest way to demonstrate our love for God is to trust Him. Trust His Word. Trust His Spirit. Trust His Truth. Trust His Love. Trusting God is eternally bound up in how we live here on earth and where we will spend our eternal destiny.

And God wants us to live in His protective, trustworthy love–now and forever.

 Love always protects, Love always trusts     I Corinthians 13:7

Love always protects, Love always trusts. 

God is our protector, our defender. And God calls us to intentionally love others through protecting them–especially those in our most intimate relationships.  

In practical terms it’s easy to see how that protective love may be expressed as parents. We care for, nurture and raise our children. We actively set up reasonable (??) boundaries and limits that will help keep our precious ones out of harm’s way.

(It’s a darn good thing that we know God never leaves them, and that He is trustworthy! Because sometimes the circumstances just don’t match what we want for our babies’ protection! No matter how old they are! Oh! Give me some more Eternal Perspective!)

 Love always protects, Love always trusts.

Love does NOT limit its protection to the young. Love’s protection is to be offered tenaciously in ALL relationships. First, and foremost, we are to actively protect our intimate relationship with  our Lord. 

And second only to our relationship with God, we are to lovingly, passionately protect our marriages–our unity and intimacy as a couple. 

We are to protect our families–how ever small, large, combined, diversified or spread over vast distances they may be.

This makes me ask some questions of all of us. Do our husbands, wives, children, parents, in-laws, siblings, and beyond…feel lovingly safe in their relationship with us?

This makes me ask some questions of myself. Am I a safe harbor, a refreshing place of rest for the people in my life? Do they feel protected by me? In a world that offers so little protection to our hearts and minds and spirits, do my most precious ones know they can run into my protective arms of love? (Or phone-calls or emails or texts of love?)

Or do they need to run for cover? Do I make them feel like they’re walking on eggshells? Are they afraid of how I will react? Or are they completely unprotected because they’re not even sure which Sylane they may meet up with today?

Love intentionally protects the life and dignity of each human being. I need to do this always–starting right in the center of my family.

 Love always protects, Love always trusts.

As we begin to understand God’s protective love for us, we can really begin to trust others. The more we trust God, who is the only One completely and constantly trustworthy, we will be able to risk ourselves more by trusting others.

Protective and trusting love is God’s One way to love, not two. 

Love always protects, Love always trusts.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Oh! The dance of Love and Truth is inseparable and beautiful. Their partnership is one of unstoppable power. Their relationship is one of indescrible intimacy and perfect unity. 

And this is something to seriously celebrate!

Love rejoices with the truth.   I Corinthians 13:6

God’s Love and God’s Truth are eternally bound–eternally One. As is our One God. Love and Truth flow from, and make up, the absolute essence and very nature of our God: …God is Love–1 John 4:8;  Jesus answered, “I am…the Truth…”–John 14:6

Love and Truth can never be divided. No wedge can ever come between them. The unfailing strength of God’s Love and Truth together will hold us tightly in our daily days and in our darkest hours–giving us hope, peace and joy.

Love rejoices with the truth.

Love can only, and will always, rejoice and celebrate with the Truth. Out of Love Jesus took the punishment for everything that would separate us from our God.

This is God’s Loving Truth that sets His people free.

Free from every shred and tentacle of deception.

Free from every form of fear.

Free from every damaging wound to our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Free to keep in step with the Spirit.

Free to run in the paths of the Lord’s commands.

Free from every accusation, every blemish caused by our sin.

Free from the power of death.

Free to live forever with our ABBA–the One God of Love and Truth. 

Love rejoices with the truth.

God’s Love and Truth are always in full agreement. Their purpose is one. Their might is unfailing.

It is God’s Love that reached me, and filled me, when I didn’t know, and didn’t trust that I could ever be loved. It is God’s Truth that turned my mind and my world completely upside-right (from being upside-down!). God’s Love and Truth has transformed–and will (necessarily) continue to transform me every day of my life–on this side of Heaven.

There is no separation between God’s Love and Truth. And we who are in Christ can never be separated from Him. Held by God’s Love and Truth, we are given incredible power to live in an intimate relationship with our ABBA.

Love rejoices with the truth–with great reason! And so should we!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Love and evil do not dance together. There can be no partnership between love and evil on any level. All sin–all evil has nothing to do with love. 

Whether we (not God) classify our actions as just a small sin–not really all that bad or willfully, flagrantly act in ways we know are completely counter and displeasing to our Holy God–it is all still evil.

And love cannot, love will not, delight in anything for which Jesus Christ had to give His life. 

LOVE sees evil as it truly is: life-destroying; life-deceiving, life-in-bondage.

  Love does not delight in evil  I Corinthians 13:6

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

God loves us in such a thoroughly renewing and cleansing way. The love of Jesus that took Him to the cross also brought us into the presence of our Holy God. And we can only enter there with no trace of sin. Our record of wrongs–all of our sin and all of our shame–have been completely obliterated by the bloodshed of Jesus.

We are innocent before our Abba.

Love keeps no record of wrongs   I Corinthians 13:5

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

 To love  as our Lord Jesus loves, we must love in intentional, active and transforming ways. We must get rid of all our mental (and written) lists of every wrong that has ever been done to us by any and everyone throughout our entire lives!

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

We have NO righteous authority to hold onto the wrongs by which other people have injured us–no matter how horrendous those wrongs were. Love and bitterness–Love and accusation–cannot exist together. Not ever.

The death of Jesus paid for all the sins of all who wronged us. And His death paid the price for all of our stubborn, bitter, judgmental, unforgiving attitudes. We cannot stay justified in our blaming, accusing, shaming ways of thinking when it comes to the wrongs of others.

Jesus’ death sentence fulfilled all punishment for all sins. We must forgive. We must shred, burn, bury, totally destroy the record of wrongs we keep against others–the deadly power of our unforgiving posture–towards others. All others.  For All sins.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

It was God’s love–God’s grace and truth–that brought me to this transforming knowledge. And it was the very power of the Living God that caused me to forgive the abuse–emotional, physical and sexual abuse–that seemed so unforgiveable.

And it was this same love of God–His grace, truth and transforming power–that caused me to finally release myself from the shame that I had held onto–and been a prisoner of–for some of my own very ugly sins. Sins committed even well after I had committed my life to Jesus.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Because of the freeing Love-Truth of Jesus, I am NOT to keep a record of my own wrongs either. I, too, am to humbly yield at the foot of the cross–completely. I must accept fully the truth and transformation that the blood of Jesus covers all sin and all shame–for all others and for me. For all time–at whatever time in my life the sin was committed.

To live in an intimate love relationship with Jesus–we must do things His way. And He radically eradicates the record of all sin and all shame.

We must be so humble–and so courageous–to do the same towards others and ourselves.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

God’s love flows powerfully with peace, grace and tenderness. 

It is also true that in God’s perfect and holy love, God does get angry. Angry at our evil. Angry at our prejudice. Angry at our pride. Angry at our meaness and cruelty towards others. Angry at our lies. Angry at our greed. Angry at our selfishness. Angry at our sins.

But in His love, God is never short-tempered, cranky or mean-spirited. God’s anger is never based on changing seasons or circumstances or moods. God never changes. And so God’s anger–against all our sin–is based, as it always has been, on God’s truth, righteousness and love for us .

Love is not easily angered   I Corinthians 13:5

Love is not easily angered.

God’s greatest love desire is for each one of us to be more like Jesus–in  our character, thinking, speaking and behavior. And that includes in our reactions to anything–or anyone–that could make us angry. To be like Jesus, we have to do it LOVE’s way:

Love is not easily angered.

God doesn’t snap at us. God doen’t snap under pressure. God doesn’t respond defensively. God’s anger is never based on feeling hurt or ignored, frustrated or tired, busy or annoyed, frail or frazzled, sick or moody.

Confession: Anger is one of my (many) areas–in my frail, flawed and finite state–that God has to work on constantly. Yep, I can get pretty darn ticked off.

Most people don’t know that about me. Well, until now.

God must continually redirect my (often-too-self-focused) perspective so that I may respond more slowy, more maturely, more lovingly. Which, of course, is a lot more like Jesus than smacking somebody upside their fool-head!

Love is not easily angered.

Most of the time when I feel the anger stirring up in me, I’m able to keep it, seemingly under control, as an inside-my-head-storm. (Remember, I said most of the time, not all.) However, my anger is still real, and the stuff screaming around in my head can be very ugly and nasty. Even if no one else, or at least not too many people, ever see it or hear it.

Love is not easily angered.

 By God’s love and grace, I have learned to invite God right into my anger. Right into its ferocity. Right into its nastiness. And God is not afraid to come in!

By inviting God into my anger, He lovingly leads drags me into the eye of my own storm. Into the calmer place of thought and focus.

By inviting God into my anger, I am letting Him know that, “I want to do things YOUR way, God! But I need YOUR help!  So YOU better get in here, God! Take control of my head! Take control of my thoughts! AAARRRGGGHHH! Take control of my mouth! Help me be more like Jesus!”

That really is pretty much the script of my dialogue (okay, monologue at that point) with God. But…

Love is not easily angered.

…and  by inviting God into my anger–to take control of my responses, I can get over myself much more quickly. I can view the people with whom I am angry with (what I call) “mercy-eyes.” 

I am not just looking at myself and all the reasons I have to be angry. The “mercy-eyes” that God gives me–are able to see more fully and clearly. “Mercy-eyes” see with love and compassion. “Mercy-eyes” view and understand the  people and the circumstances from a truer, more eternal perspective.

Love is not easily angered.

God wants to be intimate with us. So, invite Him in–right into the midst of your storms–to do His deep, transforming work.

God has taught me that I ALWAYS have a choice in how I respond. So do you. Always. And God will ALWAYS work to transform His children to be more and more like Jesus. That is the way of God’s love. 

Love is not easily angered.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

God’s love absolutely amazes me. The fact that God speaks to us in the first place is absolutely mind-boggling. But, then, to think that God speaks to us–frail, flawed and finite human beings–in respectful ways, is really beyond my grasp.

And in His love, God constantly seeks us out, even when we continually turn away. God knows that the very best thing for everyone of us is to be in a love relationship with Him. And God does–and has done–everything possible to give us the very best He has to offer. He has given us Jesus.

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking   I Corinthians 13:5

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking.

God’s loving ways and thoughts are far higher and deeper than ours.  God is the Sovereign Authority over all there is–and certainly our Superior. Yet our God speaks to us, intimately and with great respect, through His Holy Scriptures and through His Holy Spirit.

Even when God must confront us, in clear and strong ways, about our wrong behavior and tell us hard truths about ourselves–God is never rude.

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking.

But what about my tone? My words? My attitude? What does being bitingly sarcastic and rude have do with LOVE? Let me give you a hint: NOTHING!

Rudeness comes from an attitude of self-deluding over-importance and entitlement. We get all rude and uppity when someone dares to cut in front us–in a line, in our car, in our life–in any way. 

Our tone turns sarcastic when others in our world dare to turn their attention to things other than meeting our very important needs. (Even if we never told them what those needs of ours were in the first place!)

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking.

 Self-seeking attitudes and behaviors equally have NOTHING to do with LOVE!

The ego-warped thinking of: What have you done for ME lately?–OR–What will I get out of you that will be good for ME?–is a poisonous, self-centered attitude that gives birth to all kinds of relationship killing behaviors. Manipulation. Shaming. Using. Abusing. Disregarding. Disrespecting.

In this thinking, there is no seeking for the other’s very best. No seeking for the other one to know love or to feel loved.

Lust and Covetousness are the real names for the self-seeking attitude of: I want what I want, when I want it, and how I want it. There is only ME. There is no other.

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking.

God’s love always seeks the other out. God’s love seeks us out, even when we are only seeking for ourselves. 

God does not need us to fulfill something that He lacks. There is nothing lacking in God. But, oh, God wants us…and God wants to give us the full joy of being in an intimate love relationship with Him. God always seeks us…and seeks to give us His best.

Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking.

May we each choose to speak in loving tones and act in attitudes of respect. May we each seek to give others our very best–as we consider what is truly best for them.

THIS IS LOVE.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

God’s love is powerful beyond our comprehension. God’s love has no limits.  It has no bounds. Yet in the fullness of its strength, God’s love is humble–reaching into the lives and hearts of the children of His creation.  True love has no need to boast or act in prideful ways. True love’s amazing power is self-evident not self-aggrandizing.

Love does not boast, Love is not proud.  I Corinthians 13:4

Love does not boast, Love is not proud.

God’s love does not ask us to put ourselves down. God actually calls us to love ourselves. According to God’s good way and true word, we are to love God and love others as we love ourselves. But our true love–for God, for others and for self–is to be completely void of any and all self-important boasting and self-focused or self-righteous pride.

Love does not boast, Love is not proud.                                                                True love lifts up the other. Builds up the other. Encourages the other. Strengthens the other. 

About five or six years ago, my husband Tim and I were asked to speak at a couple of sessions for The Marriage Course that our home church offered. We were so thankful to do this and share what God has done–and continues to do–in our marriage. But it really made us step-back and analyze what it really is that has made our marriage what it is.

Absolutely, the over-arching answer is LOVE. God is our first love; we are each other’s second love. This is the all-emcompassing foundation and fortress for our marriage–for our friendship, our living as lovers, partners and parents.

But as we really dug into what has made this marriage work, our answer is this: Humility.

HUH??? Yes, humility. Not boasting. Not pride. Not selfishly-focused thinking nor selfishly-demanding behaviors (at least not too often!)

True love knows that humility is a powerful and strengthening force in any relationship. There is nothing weak in true humility. It is one of God’s most powerful weapons against everything that would destroy love relationships.

Love does not boast, Love is not proud.

Doesn’t it make sense that humility–not boasting, not prideful actions–is what truly builds a marriage, or any relationship, in amazing ways? Think about it: God’s fullest revelation of love came through the absolute, extravagant humility of Jesus Christ.

Jesus humbled Himself and submitted His will to do what the Father, whom He loved so much, wanted Him to do.

Jesus humbled Himself and submitted His will to His ABBA so that all the children of God’s creation would know the boundless love of their Heavenly Father.

Through the humility of Jesus our enslavement to sin and the power of death were crushed and conquered for all eternity. There is no weakness in humility.

Love does not boast, Love is not proud.

We each need to yield ourselves to the power of love. We need to humble ourselves before those we love. All forms of boasting, all expressions of selfish pride are deadly to all relationships.

Humility is the expression of true LOVE that is strong enough…

to be real and authentic–without any puffed-up presentation of self…

to admit sin and shame, failure and frailty…

to ask for forgiveness…

to offer forgiveness…

to ask the other for help…

to set aside the need to always be right…

to acknowledge when the other is right…

to seek to understand the other’s perspective…

to build up, encourage and celebrate the other.

Love does not boast, Love is not proud. 

It just isn’t necessary. The extravagant humility and self-sacrificing love of Jesus prove this. And God offers us His same power to love others as He loves us.

True LOVE is strong enough to be humble.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

God’s love is able to fill the very deepest needs and most persistent longings of our hearts and lives. And it is God’s love that not only is able to fill these deep needs and longings, but it is only God’s love that ever will fill them completely.

We need to stop seeking from any source other than God’s love to have our needs and longings met. Because if we don’t, an attitude of envy will grow up and fill us instead with bitterness, resentment and disappointment.

Love does not envy.  I Corinthians 13:4

 Love does not envy.

And in the presence of God’s love–there cannot be anything to envy. Nothing. Nothing fulfills us like God’s love.

But sadly, we don’t always allow God’s love–and the good gifts God has provided through His love–to really do what they were meant to do: fill us with deep satisfaction, contentment and thankfulness.

Love does not envy.

Envy takes a firm claw-like-hold on us whenever we look to other people, other things or other circumstances–anything other than God–to be the source for our happiness and our reasons for thankfulness.

Whenever we crave what else there is out there we become jealous and envious and lose all sight of the truth of God’s love.  

Love does not envy.

Envy feeds on twisted lies of dissatisfaction and ungratefulness: 

We want that something we don’t have,

we want that something that somebody else does have,

that different circumstance,

that different job,

that different title,

that different home,

that different car,

that different personality,

that different ability,

that different body,

that different father,

that different mother,

that different husband,

that different wife,

that different child,

that different life!

Love does not envy.

Envy shuts us away from God–and we no longer can see the truth of His love for us. Too many disappointments and resentments over what we don’t have cloud our view. But others can clearly view the ugly, greedy, jealous, satisfied-with-nothing attitudes that ENVY spews from us.

That is NOT the way love does it!

Love does not envy.

Envy keeps us from truly acknowledging and thanking God as the One who has given us all we need to satisfy our souls…as the One who has given us our very breath…and as the One who cut off the breath of His Son Jesus in order to forgive our sins and give us eternal life.

That IS the way love does it!

Love does not envy.

We need to look around. Not at anyone else. Just look around at our own circumstances and our own relationships.

We need to love the way love does:

Take Nothing and No One for granted

Find a reason (even if it’s a small one) to thank God:

for all circumstances in your life,

for all people in your life.

And thank them, too.

Give God thanks for who He is,

Give God thanks for all you have,

Give up  and get rid of all envy and bitterness

Be grateful…you will love more greatly.

All that we have, all that we are–are gifts from our God that come out of His soul-satisfying love for us.

We each need to let God’s love transform our minds so that envy and jealousy are crushed. We should no longer spew out envy onto those around us.

Rather, as God’s love transforms us we will flow more freely with a heart of thankfulness and appreciation to both God and to others. All those others in our lives who, like us, need God’s love to fill the deepest needs and longings of their souls, too. 

Love does not envy. 

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Love is…the very power and nature of the Living God. And His love is patient and kind. It is for us to fully receive. It is for us to fully give.

Love is patient, Love is kind…I Corinthians 13:4

God’s love for us is patient and kind.

God’s love is so real. God’s knows exactly what we need for our own hearts to be healed, strengthened and transformed. We need God’s full and perfect love. 

It is God’s love that offers us the patient understanding and gentle kindness that our hearts cry out to receive. God’s patient and kind love holds us tenderly and securely in ways that soothe our souls and offers us a place of rest and sanctuary for our minds, bodies and spirits.

I didn’t know much about patience or kindness growing up. Snap judgments, a hard smack across the face, cruel criticisms, ugly words–and far uglier, abusive actions were what I knew most.

But what I lived and experienced does NOT change who God is or what God has for me. God loves me. God is patient and kind. God’s love is NOT limited in any way just because I didn’t know patience and kindness in my home growing up.

God’s Word is true. God’s love is true. And God’s love is patient and kind.

God’s patient and kind love is full of understanding and compassion for who I am…and my God loves me even though I am frail, flawed and finite.

God’s patient and kind love quiets me, slows me down, holds me safely, gently reaches into my soul, massages my heart and refreshes my spirit.

God’s patient and kind love embraces and encourages me with the pure love that comes from my ABBA. I am a very beloved child–a very beloved woman–of my Holy God. 

And my Holy God commands and empowers me to offer His patient and kind love to all those in my life. Yes, all. No matter what I have known or experienced from others.

God calls me–and every one of His children–to love others in such a way that they too will know the healing, strengthening, transforming truth of God’s patient and kind love for themselves. 

 In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

I just wrote a six days series on Relationship Advice from our Dear God. And as I wrote from 1 Corinthians yesterday, it really hit me that I wanted to take a deeper look at this passage again. And for some (the two or three) of you who read this devotional, this will be a bit of a re-run because this is a 12 days series from some reflections I wrote last year. 

God’s Word is living and active—and I pray that these devotionals will be such for you also.

Okay! So we are to LOVE.

But what does real LOVE look like? God, again, makes that very clear.  And God gives us a very comprehensive overview of His view of LOVE.

Love is patient, Love is kind. Love does not envy, Love does not boast, Love is not proud. Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking, Love is not easily angered, Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, Love always trusts, Love always hopes,  Love always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

This beautiful passage has been quoted by many, many people over the years–believers and not-yet-believers–as a moving description of the essence of love. And that is what it is. This is what love looks like.

This is what God’s love looks like. This is how God loves us. But we are not just to be moved in our minds as we read and hear this description of what love looks like. We are to do something about it!

God wants His children to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. God’s plan is to transform us within our deepest core so that we will love others like He does. We need to let God change us–deeply and daily–so we will actively and intentionally make choices in our words and actions that are truly lined up with God’s view of love!

In these few short verses, God has given us His characteristics of love, His actions of love and His promises of love. And God promises to empower each of us, His children, with His love.

So read the passage again–the Overview of Love–and get a good view of what love looks like…and what we will look like –speak like and act like–as we love others more like God.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane