It's Valentine's Day and that brings with it images of romance. Romance is chiefly associated with feelings, which are nice, but love is much more than feelings.  
 
Whether we "feel it" or not, we have the capability to love. As a child of God, the love of God is, "shed abroad in our hearts" (Romans 5:5). It's up to us to walk that out every day.
 
We have talked about this topic before, but it's important to renew our minds daily with the Word of God and it never hurts to have a refresher course in our love walk!

What Love Looks Like
Our love walk plays a big part in the success of our marriage relationship.

Let's talk about what that walk looks like according to the Word of God (1 Cor. 13:4-8):

Love is Patient. It’s not, “Come on! We are going to be late again. Hurry up!" It doesn't go out sit in the car and honk the horn. It doesn't complain, "Come on! We’re always late," or " Get that thing done," or "Shut that thing up.” Nobody wants to be patient. Did you know that it is also a fruit of the Spirit? That  means as a child of God, we have the ability to be patient inside us, but it's up to us to walk that out.
 
Love is Kind. Sometimes I have seen couples treat strangers better than they treat each other. They'll treat total strangers with more honor, more respect and more compassion than they give their own spouse. That isn't right, your spouse is a gift from God and the most special person on this earth.

Love is not Envious. Envious behavior says that  it doesn’t matter if somebody else is having a good day as long as their own day (career, etc.) is going well. No, you're not envious. You’re thankful. You’re thrilled for them. You rejoice with those that rejoice, the Bible says love is not boastful.
 
Love is not Easily Angered, it Doesn’t Keep Record of Wrongs Done. That means that we're not to keep a diary or a ledger every time our spouse does something stupid. We don’t keep records. Love doesn’t. Sometimes people do, but love doesn’t.

Love Never Delights in Evil and it Always Protects. When you love somebody, you protect them. Love trusts, hopes, preserves and love never fails. There are no perfect people or perfect marriages, but when we put God's Word first in our lives we can have a great marriage!

We all have flesh and every day we have to choose to be obedient to the Word and to walk out what we've been called to. We have the love of God in us and even when it's a struggle the Word says that God will give us both the desire and the power to do His Will (Phil. 2:13).

If we want to build a great marriage we are going to have to practice some things that are different than our human nature. We have to start living in the fullness of what God has called us to as we walk in love with each other.
 
Take Action:
Take what I call the "happy" challenge.
Ask yourself, "What is one thing I can do for my spouse today?" It doesn't have to be a big thing or something that you have to buy. Ask yourself, "Is there something that I can do to show them I care, to make their load easier, or to make them smile today?" You're not looking for a reward - do it for no other reason than to show them how special they are to you.

I promise that an investment like that will go along way in your strengthening your relationship over time.

Let's enjoy the journey!


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