Some of the effects of charity are stated, that we may know whether we have this grace; and that if we have not, we may not rest till we have it.

This love is a clear proof of regeneration, and is a touchstone of our professed faith in Christ. In this beautiful description of the nature and effects of love, it is meant to show the Corinthians that their conduct had, in many respects, been a contrast to it.

Charity is an utter enemy to selfishness; it does not desire or seek its own praise, or honor, or profit, or pleasure. Not that charity destroys all regard to ourselves, or that the charitable man should neglect himself and all his interests. But charity never seeks its own to the hurt of others, or to neglect others. It ever prefers the welfare of others to its private advantage.

How good-natured and amiable is Christian charity! How excellent would Christianity appear to the world, if those who profess it were more under this Divine principle, and paid due regard to the command on which its blessed Author laid the chief stress!

Let us ask whether this Divine love dwells in our hearts. Has this principle guided us into becoming behaviour to all men? Are we willing to lay aside selfish objects and aims? Here is a call to watchfulness, diligence, and prayer.

-- Matthew Henry

Love each other. A command to love one another is not a new commandment; it had been mandated in the Old Testament (Ex 20:12-17; Lev 19:18,33-34; Dt 5:16-21; 22:1-4; see also Mt 5:38-48; 7:12; 23:36-40; Lk 10:25-37). The newness of Jesus’ command pertains to the new kind of love that Christians have for one another because they have each experienced the love of Christ.

Jesus commanded His followers to love one another “just as I have loved you.” This was revolutionary, for believers are called to love others based on Jesus’ sacrificial love for them. Jesus was a living example of God's love, as we are to be living examples of Jesus’ love. This love would be the mark of distinction: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” One of the major themes in John's first letter is brotherly love (see 1Jn 3-4). (L.A.B.)

"A new commandment: Love one another." This command Jesus gave them as He was about to leave them, to be a badge of discipleship, by which they might be known as His friends and followers, and by which they might be distinguished from all others.

It is called new, not because there was no command before which required men to love their fellow-men, for one great precept of the law was that they should love their neighbour as themselves (Lev.19:18); but it was new because it had never before been made that by which any class or body of men had been known and distinguished.

The religious person was known by his external rites, by his peculiarity of dress,... ; the philosopher by some other mark of distinction; the military man by another,... . In none of these cases had love for each other been the distinguishing and peculiar badge by which they were known.

But in the case of Christians they were not to be known by distinctions of wealth, or learning, or fame; they were not to aspire to earthly honors; they were not to adopt any peculiar style of dress or badge, but they were to be distinguished by tender and constant attachment to each other. This was to surmount all distinction of country, of color, of rank, of office, of sect. Here they were to feel that they were on a level, that they had common wants, were redeemed by the same sacred blood, and were going to the same heaven.

They were to befriend each other in trials; be careful of each other’s feelings and reputation; deny themselves to promote each other’s welfare. (See 1Joh.3:23; 1Th.4:9; 1Pe.1:22; 2Th.1:3; Ga.6:2; 2Pe.1:7). In all these places the command of Jesus is repeated or referred to, and it shows that the first disciples considered this indeed as the peculiar law of Christ.

This command or law was, moreover, new in regard to the extent to which this love was to be carried; for He immediately adds, “As I have Loved you, so you must Love one another.” His love for them was strong, continued, unremitting, and He was now about to show hHs love for them in death. John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

This was a new expression of love; and it showed the strength of attachment which we ought to have for Christians, and how ready we should be to endure hardships, to encounter dangers, and to practise self-denial, to benefit those for whom the Son of God laid down his life.

-- Barnes

-- John 3:16-17
"16 For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

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Jesus is my true Valentine
His heart was pierced for me
I cannot tell why He Loved me so well
But He proved it on Calvary.

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LOVE....
Is from the heart
Of the Father
The giver of every
Good and perfect gift,
For LOVE is
The greatest gift of all.

LOVE....
Has touched us
And brought us
Every meaningful thing
That is in our lives,
For LOVE always gives
The BEST.

LOVE....
Will keep us
And nourish us
Enriching each day
Of our journey
For LOVE is always growing
And will abide FOREVER!!

-- Unknown

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-- Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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"The Power of Love"

Someone cares and always will,
The world forgets but God loves you still,
You cannot go beyond His Love
No matter what you're guilty of

For God forgives until the end,
He is your faithful, loyal friend,
There is no shelter any place
That can escape His watchful eye,

For on the earth and in the sky
HE'S EVER PRESENT and ALWAYS THERE
To take you in His tender care
And bind the wounds and mend the breaks

When all the world around forsakes . . .
SOMEONE CARES and LOVES YOU STILL
And GOD is THE SOMEONE who always will.

-- Helen Steiner Rice

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-- John 15:9-15
"9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. 10 If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. 11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you."

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"The love of JESUS"

Hold on to the love of Jesus.
For His strength and love is real.
He captures our hearts,
And within our spirits the blessed
Savior heals.

Hold on to the love of Jesus.
For within Him comes divine peace,
For within the presence of the Lord,
Great suffering does cease.

-- Shirley Beck

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-- Ephesians 5:1-2
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

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"Come Lord Jesus This Valentine's Day"

Come Lord Jesus on this Valentine's
Day and be our cherished Guest.
Show us, teach us how to receive
all of Your eternal love and rest.

We ask You to come Jesus, and be
our Most Holy One this special day.
We praise You Lord Jesus for in You
we eventually do find our way.

If You had not of loved us first we
would have no future or salvation.
Come Lord Jesus let Your love flow
into our lives all across this nation.

Let no one forget what Valentine's Day
is all about we pray and ask you Lord.
Send Your Spirit and captivate us as
we wait for the day of faith's reward.

Come Lord Jesus on this love filled day
and we will humbly be your loving host.
We want You, we praise You, we need
You and it is You we love the most!!

-- George Edward Noe

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-- Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Christian's Love

Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses. -- Proverbs 10:12

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. -- Proverbs 27:5

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. -- Genesis 29:20

Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
-- Song of Solomon 2:5

If the first mark of a true and living church is love, the second is suffering. The one is naturally consequent on the other. A willingness to suffer proves the genuineness of love. -- John Stott

Christian Love, either towards God or towards man,
is an affair of the will. -- C.S. Lewis

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. -- Augustine

The love of wealth makes bitter men;
the love of God, better men. -- W.L. Hudson

To love as Christ loves is to let our love be a practical thing
and not a sentimental thing. -- C.V.Stanford

Just as love makes law enjoyable,
law makes love practical. -- W.Chantry

Love without Faith is as bad as Faith without love. -- Beecher

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Under the apple tree I woke you,
In the place where you were born.
Close your heart to every love but mine;
Hold no one in your arms but me.
Love is as powerful as death;
Passion is as strong as death itself.
It bursts into flame
And burns like a raging fire.
Water cannot put it out;
No flood can drown it.
But if any tried to buy love with their wealth,
contempt is all they would get.

-- Song of Solomon 8:5-7

Happy Lunar New Year * Tiger!   &   Love * Valentine's Day!

The World's Love

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody is watching. -- S.Paige

Love is when you look into someone's eyes and suddenly you go all the way inside their soul and you both know it. -- Unknown

A man falls in love through his eyes,
A woman through her ears. -- W.Wyatt

Without love in a dream, it will never come true. -- J.Garcia

Who so loves
Believes the impossible. -- E.B.Browning

Love is something that grows from friendship. -- Unknown

You may hold my hand for awhile,
but you hold my heart forever. -- N.L.Divino

The heart is the happiest when it beats for others. -- Unknown

Love is composed of a single soul inhibiting two bodies. -- Aristotle

To love is nothing. To be loved is something.
To love and be loved is everything. -- C.Dempsey

There is no remedy for love but to love more. -W.D.Thoreau

At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. -- Plato

The fate of love is that it always seems too little or too much. -- A.Barr

When first we met we did not guess
That Love would prove so hard a master. -- R.Bridges

All the little emptiness of love! -- R.Brooke

Love is an act of endless forgiveness,
a tender look which becomes a habit. -- P.Ustinov

There may be many flowers in a man's life,
but there is only one rose. -- Unknown

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise. -- S.Johnson

True love is like ghosts,
which everyone talks about but few have seen. -- F.Rochefoucauld

I shall always be a priest of love. -- D. H. Lawrence

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. -- R.A.Heinlein

Let those love now who never loved before,
Let those that always loved now love the more. -- Parnell

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,
And men below, and saints above;
For love is heaven, and heaven is love. -- Scott

We love in another's soul
whatever of ourselves
we can deposit in it;
the greater the deposit,
the greater the love.
-- I.Layton

Love does not consist in gazing at each other
but in looking together in the same direction. -- A.S.Exupéry

The way to find out if you love someone or not, is by talking to them.
The more you talk to them the more you either hate them or love them. -- B.Breitenstein

It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone and a day to love someone but it takes a lifetime to forget someone. -- Unknown

A life's worth, in the end, isn't measured in hours, or dollars. It's measured by the amount of love exchanged along the way. -- D.C.Means

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. -- B.Pascal

There is only one true happiness in life, to love and be loved. -- G.Sands

War and Peace is like love, it always finds a way.

Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness. -- O.W.Holmes

We love because it's the only true adventure. -- N.Giovanni

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. -- B.D.Angelis

A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -- J.Cummings

Man loves little and often. Woman much and rarely. -- Basta

Between lovers a little confession is a dangerous thing. -- Helen Rowland

Love is blind -- Marriage is the eye-opener. -- Pauline Thomason

If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough. -- Ann Landers

The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're still alive. -- O.A. Battista

When we cannot get what we love, we must love what is within our reach. -- French Proverb

A heart that loves is always young. -- Greek Proverb

Age does not protect you from love, but love, to some extent, protects you from age. -- Jeanne Moreau



"Loving You"

My heart is full of love, it's true.
And I wish to share with you 
My joy of this and sheer delight, 
For I love you with all my might. 

Whenever my thoughts are only on you, 
Things soft and warm come into view, 
And beautiful hearts flow all around, 
Filled with a joyous, glorious sound. 

The song of Love is everywhere, 
Filling our hearts, floating on air. 
Joyously the Angels sing, 
For Love of God is everything. 

And that's my Love for you, my dear, 
Love conquers all, even fear, 
And so I say to you today, 
I hope you Love me too, I pray.

-- Unknown

---

"SONG OF LOVE"

Two hearts united
Growing within each other
Emitting understanding and warmth
Love is pure and precious
Eternal and everlasting

Two souls embracing each other
with tenderness and hope
Sharing and giving
Living and loving
Throughout all Eternity. 

-- Nina D.T.

---

Until I Met You

Before I met you,
I thought I was happy,
and I was,
but I had never known
the rich contentment,
deep satisfaction,
and total fulfillment
you brought to me
when you came into my life.

Before I met you,
I felt a lot of things,
good things,
but I had never experienced
the indescribably intense
feelings I have for you.

Before I met you,
I thought I knew myself,
and I did,
but you looked deep inside me
and found fresh new things
for us to share.

Before I met you,
I thought I knew about love,
but I didn’t,
until I met you.

-- Joanna Fuchs



-- Romans 5:5
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

-- Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

-- 1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

-- Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

-- Ephesians 4:2-3
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

-- 1 John 5:1-4
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His child as well. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.

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-- 1 John 4:7-19 (God is Love)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because He first loved us.

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-- Psalms 25:6-7
6 Remember, O LORD, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your love remember me, for You are good, O LORD.

-- Psalms 42:8
By day the LORD directs His love, at night His song is with me --
a prayer to the God of my life.

-- Psalms 69:13, 16
13 But I pray to You, O LORD, in the time of Your favor;
in Your great love, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation.
16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of Your love;
in Your great mercy turn to me.

-- Psalms 85:7
Show us Your unfailing love, O LORD,
and grant us Your salvation.

-- Psalms 86:5
You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to You.

-- Psalms 103:8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

-- Psalms 119:64-66
64 The earth is filled with Your love, O LORD; teach me Your decrees. 65 Do good to your servant according to Your Word, O LORD. 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in Your commands.

-- Psalms 143:8
Let the morning bring me Word of Your unfailing love,
For I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go,
For to You I lift up my soul.

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-- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

-- 1 Timothy 1:5
The purpose of this instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with Love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith.

Happy Lunar New Year * Tiger!   &   Love * Valentine's Day!