The further into 1 Corinthians that we get I sense a little frustration that is coming through the words that he speaks to the people of Corinth.  I am a huge numbers person so I found it a little interesting that Paul talks about 5 things that love IS but mentions 10 things that love is NOT.  He had just spent an entire chapter explaining to them all the amazing gifts that God has given them and then has to spend an entire chapter getting through to them one simple just oh so complex and life changing concept.  Without love we have nothing.

Love is not jealous – In other translations its stated as “does not envy.”  Envy and comparison are the thief of joy!  If all we did was sit and be jealous about the gifts and abilities that others were given and not just be happy and grow in what God has given us we run the serious risk of completely losing track of what we have been given.  We weren’t designed to be jealous, we were designed to build each other up.

Love is not boastful – To be boastful is to express too much pride in ourselves or in something that we have, have done or contributed to.  During this challenge God spoke pretty clearly to me to follow through on an opportunity to bless someone.  Now, I am NOT boasting about this, I am just saying… it happened.  🙂  Following this opportunity I caught my self wanting to remind them of what I did, and it wasn’t like that’s what I was trying to do!  It was just something that so simply almost rolled off my tongue but it wasn’t necessary.  I used my brain to mouth filter… Win!

Love is not proud – I personally prefer how another translation says it as arrogant of which the definition is showing the insulting attitude of people who believe they are better, smarter or more important than others.  It’s not just the attitude of being better but the insulting attitude of being better.

Love is not rude – This idea that we have been called to be different but yet at the end of the day we are still so worried about all that we want and when we want it and we often end up leaving behind those that we have been called to love the most.  If we are really in the business of loving people then we need to be aware that there will be times that we have to set aside our desires for the time being in order to walk along side someone in life and really love them.

Those items listen above created so many opportunities for me to alter how I think and what I say.  I honestly can’t say exactly when things changed but I can tell you that there was a moment that I found myself dissecting every action and reaction before using my words.  I know this sounds cliche but words can build up and words can kill.  During the next couple days.. I challenge you to try and evaluate which you are using on a regular basis.

Admitting that we sometimes use words that kill, unknowingly, doesn’t make us horrible people!!!  It’s not like I am here to tell you about all the bad things that we are doing, remember, I am the first one to say that I needed to make a change.  I am just saying that it creates opportunities for us to work to be more like our Creator (Colossians 3:10) and isn’t that what we are designed to be?