Six Principles of Love
Copyright  © 2007 Heaven Ministries - Angie Lewis

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7


1. Love Is Patient! Are you patient with your friends and family? Patience is a virtue. It is a wonderful character trait to practice patience. Are you utilizing all of the potential that God has given you? Are you patient, or are you easily irritated and annoyed? Being patient with others is one way you furnish love to them. Love also is considerate, which I think goes along the same lines as patience. 

2. Love Does Not Envy! Are you jealous or envious of your neighbors or friends? Do you ever envy or resent your loved ones? Resentment runs rampant in the world today, and it is literally tearing relationships apart! Please don’t even let a bit of jealousy or envy control your life or you will not accomplish God’s purpose for you. 

3. Love Is Not Self-Seeking! This is a biggy! We all have some selfish abilities that we shine intensely on occasion; we wouldn't be human if we didn't. But some of us are selfish in our relationships and we don’t know how to give to others. We should strive to work towards being more sharing and loving people; it does so much good to our own self-esteem in the long run. 

4. Love Is Not Easily Angered! Do you get angry with your friends over nothing! Do you ever think that you might be behaving impatient and intolerable with them? Let's take a look at ourselves for a change and find out why we might be fueling our anger inappropriately. If we are quick to anger, something deeper might be bothering us that we can't seem to get to the bottom of. We need to work on fixing this drawback within our inner psyche so we can learn to control our emotional outbursts. 

5. Love Is Not Proud. Real love provides something of comfort to others because it makes them feel good when they are truly loved by another. The way to completely love is to be totally free with who we are instead of holding onto what we want or what we desire. Love always seems to come back to those who share it willingly without wanting anything in return because pride doesn't stand in the way. 

6. Love Does Not Delight In Evil but Rejoices In Truth! This has to be the champion of all the aspects of love because if we followed this one simple principle we would not need any other standards to tell us how to love, or what love is. This straightforward verse speaks for itself, but for some of us, maybe we're not sure what the TRUTH is. 

The truth is what sets us free from all of the above unpleasant aspects of character, such as anger, resentment, envy, jealousy and strife. After all, these are only feelings that we carry around inside our head that keep us from loving others properly. Truth is “God’s words of Wisdom”. Wisdom is God and God is Wisdom. We will be walking in real love when we apply God’s truth into our life because God is Love!