One of the online Bible sites I use daily is BibleGateway. As I opened that site this morning for my reading time, I came face to face (and heart to heart) with the verse of the day. Given the emphasis placed on February 14th, the verse of the day, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, is fitting. 
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
As I meditated on these two verses that describe many of the facets of real love, I began to dissect the phrases and ask myself how the love I offer measures up to this standard. Part of my mental process was to understand each of the descriptions as positive actions. As such, I think we can paraphrase the verses like this:
Love is patient and kind. It trusts and is humble. Love brings honor to others and puts their needs before our own. Love is understanding and forgiving.
As I reflected on the verses and the paraphrase, I began to wrestle with how we can possibly love this way consistently. Then I remembered 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” The idea expressed by John in this little letter is not that we love out of obligation because God loved us first. The idea is that we are able to love because God has illustrated real love for us.
Not only does God give us the perfect example of love but because God loves us, we are secure. Because of this confidence, we can be willing to risk loving others. There is nothing we can do to make God stop loving us. So even if we risk to love others and our love is rejected or not reciprocated, God’s love for us will never end.
Dare to love like that today!
Clay in the Hands 
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