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PROGRAM D-7744
If I asked you to define love, you might come up with an emotional description, because we typically think of love as it relates to our feelings. We have warm feelings for people we love, or our dogs, or any number of other things that we “love.” But the Bible definition of love as found in 1 Corinthians 13 is all about actions and attitudes, not about feelings.
I’ve decided to start this New Year with “love” as my one word to focus on. Did you know that love is a skill you can learn? Like any other skill, the more you practice love, the better lover you become. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul exhorts Timothy to set an example for believers in the way he loves. And he says, “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” So, I’ve come up with a 30-day plan to learn to practice love, based on 1 Corinthians 13. This 30-day plan will help you to be diligent in learning to practice love, and believe me, your progress will be very evident.
It’s an easy plan; won’t take a lot of time. You just read 1 Corinthians 13 every day for 30 days, and then you focus each day on one of the specific attributes of love that are found in that chapter. For example, on Day 6 the focus is on Verse 5, which says, “Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking.” So the challenge for that day is to practice very good manners. Just simple things, like remembering to say thank you, to let others go ahead of you in line, to open doors for others, to let other cars in your lane of traffic, to relinquish your seat to someone else.
Love is not rude, but sometimes I can be careless in my attention to simple everyday manners, and that means I need to practice love by having better manners. And in order to do that, I have to intentionally work at it. Now, the secret to success in learning to practice love is to pray these love actions into your life. So on Day 6 you would literally pray that God would remind you throughout the day to be aware of practicing good manners—to go out of your way to be polite. When you do, you’re practicing love.
If you seriously started each day with a focus on becoming a better lover, by God’s standards, can you not see how it could truly make a difference in you, and in the New Year ahead of you? Just follow the simple, easy plan to learn to practice love. You will never regret doing this, I promise.
