Once again, I am excited to share with you my newly released Bible study called LOVE IS. Based on the famous and often-recited verses of 1 Corinthians 13, this 13-week study takes a deep look at what it means to love… I mean, really love… like God loves.
This study comes out of my personal prayers to grow in love for my friends and family. Recently, while I was praying earnestly about a specific circumstance, I asked the Lord, “what can I do?” His response, felt in my heart, was “Love them”. Of course! I can do that! The Lord in his graciousness had given me an easy task. But the thought occurred to me, “How should I love them?” Immediately, I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 13, specifically verses 4-7. These verses became the benchmark for my actions and attitudes towards those I was called to love. I do not profess that I have made great strides. I consider myself a novice. However, these specific verses have been a tremendous help and encouragement to me. They have given me insight into my own need for change and actual practices that can make a difference. Most importantly, they have drawn me closer to the heart of God. I have joined forces with God to love others in a way that can change lives and hearts. The attitudes and actions in these verses are, by far and away, the most exciting way to live. They are love in action. They are God in action. And we are invited into such a movement.
This email is your invitation too. You are invited to join in this study this Spring, online. (Some of you who are receiving this email have already joined the study. I’m so glad!) All of the materials are posted on my website at elizabethheadblack.com and are free of charge. I am so passionate about sharing this study for one big reason. When we begin to understand the way God loves us (agapē love) it changes how we see everything, and everyone. We can change the dynamic of any situation, any circumstance by how we love and show love. As we practice and develop patterns of loving, we can experience peace and joy, even in the hardest, most challenging circumstances. Peace with God, peace with others, peace with ourselves.
I hope (will try…) to post a little excerpt from my lessons each week on this blog, so you’ll get a taste for it. Be watching for that. I hope it will bless you. It is blessing me. But if you join this study with me, you will bless me even more! Maybe there is someone you want to share it with too. Maybe you want to do this study with a friend, a spouse, a parent, a child. Has there ever been a time when we need to learn how to love better? LOVE IS how we are going to change the world. Let’s make this our prayer together. That we would LOVE MORE.
Here is your first excerpt, from the Introduction:
“We will assume that we have come to this text because we want to love like this, to learn how to love more deeply, more intimately, more effectively. Our assumption is that our natural tendencies fall short of this kind of selfless, unmotivated outpouring. We tend to grow weary over time of the physical, mental and emotional exertion required to love real people with real problems, difficult histories, foibles, insecurities, and grating mannerisms. We grow weary of the enormous effort required of our will to hang in there with people – real people. This “hymn of love” as some have called it, this “jewel of scripture” brings our dry and empty hearts to the well. Paul shows us the deep cistern of God’s love for us, through his Son Jesus, the Christ. Jesus is the model. He is also the source. He shows us what to do, how to do it, and by his Spirit that is alive in us, He does it through us. How shall we love others? As Jesus loves us. (John 15:12)” .
Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV)