Why love? I believe “to love and to be loved” is mankind’s most basic need.
1. Regardless of what you have or have.
a. What is your most treasured possession?
b. To be loved is greater.
2. Regardless of the age factor in life, young or old, your greatest need is to be loved.
a. From child to a grandparent
3. Regardless of the ailment in your life, love is a is a medicine that mends all wounds.
a. You may have a physical ailment, love heals.
b. You may have an emotional ailment
1) Forgiveness – love it away
2) Bitterness – love it away
3) Anger – love it away
What is Love? Before you can convince someone of something you must first know what it is.
I. Define Love
1. According to the Bible, there are some basic meaning for the word “love”.
a. Philanthropia, meaning a love for man
b. Phileo, meaning love for a friend
c. Philadelphia, meaning love for a brother
2. The strongest word for love is “agape” which is the love in which God loves us.
a. Ephesians 5:25; John 3:16, Romans 5:8
b. This is an enduring kind of love.
c. Shows the preciousness or worthiness of the one loved.
d. Not a self-seeking or self-fulfilling love, but a divine attribute. 1 John 4:8-21
II. What Agape Love is Not? 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1. Verse 1. Agape love is not words. Though words are used to express love. You can speak words without really loving. John 21:15-17
2. Verse 2. Agape is not promising. The gift of prophecy or better yet the telling about the great tomorrow.
a. There are promises in love
b. But you can promise without loving
3. Verse 2. Agape love is more than believing.
4. Verse 3. Agape love is more than sacrifice.
a. How often I hear, “I love her because of all I do, all I give, all she has.”
b. Yes, there is a lot of sacrificing in loving, but you can sacrifice without loving.
5. Agape love is for greater than words that can be said so casually.
a. Promises can be forgotten
b. Belief can be shattered
c. Sacrifice can be misunderstood
III. How Can I Convince My Wife I really Love Her?
1. By knowing and applying what real love is.
2. Real love may be difficult to define, but it is not difficult to discern.
a. Now how does Paul define this, “agape” love. We need to apply to the “every day of life”.
3. Verse 4. Love suffereth long and is patient. The praise that we can give even under the pressure of misunderstanding. Disapproved, being mistaken.
a. It is rejecting anger even when you have a reason.
b. Romans 5:3
4. Verse 4. Love is kind. Not a passive act but an active and aggressive one. It is a display of gentleness.
a. 2 Corinthians 6:3-6
b. Colossians 3:12-20
5. Verse 4. Love envieth not or in generous, not jealous.
a. Generous in praise and appreciation for what others are and have. What others do and achieve.
b. Love envieth not, it is rejoicing in the success of other.
6. Verse 4. Love vaunteth not itself or is humble.
a. It is not puffed up. It is the refusal to be boastful. Refusal to be proud.
b. It is the wonder that your love is accepted that you are loved.
7. Verse 5. Love doth not behave itself unseemly. Love is being “courteous”.
a. It is being a gentle woman or gentle man.
b. It is the setting aside of haughtiness or rudeness. The crudeness that is so much of the way of life today.
c. A refusal to be ugly.
8. Verse 5. Love seeketh not her own or is unselfish.
a. Not my rights, or you owe me that.
b. But realizing you have a debt to pay. That you owe something to others. You fulfill your responsibilities.
9. Verse 5. Love is not easily provoked or is good natured.
a. Love is not irritable or touchy
b. It means you never lose your temper
c. When you lose your temper, “you lose everything”.
10. Love thinketh no evil. Love is grudgeless.
a. Christian love has learned the great art of forgiving and forgetting. Ephesians 4:31-21
b. Learn to close doors behind you as you go through this life.
c. Learn to bury dead ducks in your life.
d. Learn not to carry the garbage and filth of this world everywhere you go.
11. Verse 6. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity
a. Love finds no pleasure in wrongdoing.
b. Love has no evil ideas. It has no evil actions or involvements.
c. Love has no part in the problems or mistakes of others.
d. Love seeks to help others when they are “caught”.
12. Verse 6. Love rejoiceth in the truth. It is a gladness when what is true is make known.
a. Love wins over evil. It wins over suspicious lies.
b. Love has nothing to conceal when there is wrong or right.
13. Verse 7. Love beareth all things or is loyal. Love can take it. It includes:
a. Injury or insult, disappointment
b. Love mends and brings healing instead of hurting.
c. Love is being loyal no matter what the cost.
14. Verse 7. Love believeth all things or love is confident even when there is reason for giving up or to quit believing.
a. It is having confidence and commitment even in the face of disappointment
b. It is believing a change is possible and that you are willing to put yourself on the line because of love.
15. Verse 7. Love hopeth all things. It is expecting the best in the face of the worst.
a. It is refusing to believe a person, or a situation is hopeless.
b. It is being one that encourages and lifts others.
16. Verse 7. Love endureth all things. It is standing your ground in the defense of another.
a. It is a refusal to quit.
17. Now that we know what real love is. How do we convinced our loved ones we love them? Just practice 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and then verse 8 will be true. Love never fails.
