Ouch!

"A noted doctor has listed several emotions which produce disease in human beings. Heading the list is fear, followed by frustration, rage, resentment, hatred, jealousy, envy, self-centeredness, and ambition. The one and only antidote that can save men from these, he says, is love."

-Cadle Call

"Love cures people--both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."

-Karl Menninger

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

-Augustine

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving."

-Amy Carmichael

"Love is not something you feel. It's something you do."

-David Wilkerson

"Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love covers all offenses."

-Proverbs 10:12 NLT

Billy Graham said, "God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'" We have, in the verse, "Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love covers all offenses," two focal points, hatred and love. Hatred, according to this verse stirs up quarrels, while love covers all offenses.

James 4:1- 3 says, "What is causing quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it, And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure." On the other hand, 1 Peter 4:8 commands, "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins." Self-centered vs. Christ-centered!

Self-centered says, "What's mine is mine and what's your's is mine so I'll take it!"

God-centered says, "What's your's is your's and what's mine is your's and I'll give it!"

When we love self there is room for no other. This love of self will lead to hatred which will lead to quarrels, jealousy, selfishness, hatred, fights, scheming, and even death. The solution? Love. Simple solution, hard to do. But it's still the solution!

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

Here's the test:

1. Am I ever impatient?

2. Am I ever unkind?

3. Am I ever jealous?

4. Am I ever boastful or proud?

5. Am I ever rude?

6. Do I ever demand my own way?

7. Do I ever get irritable?

8. Do I ever keep score?

9. Am I ever glad when someone gets what they have coming to them?

10. Do I sometimes forget to rejoice when the truth wins out?

11. Do I ever give up on somebody?

12. Do I ever lose faith?

13. Do I ever lose hope?

14. Do I sometimes fail to endure through every circumstance?

If you haven't figured this out yet, we don't want many, if any, "yes" answers. If you're like me, you most-likely failed the test of love. And if we fail the test of love we will fail the test of seeing people the way God sees people. Gods sees every person as extremely valuable, of great worth, and as someone for whom Jesus died. There's a song that says, "He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs." We usually see the faults and stop there.

I've heard it said that my sins, my faults, nailed Jesus to the cross. That's true, but it was his unconditional love that held him there. He told Peter (Matthew 26:53-54), when the arresting mob came to take him from the garden, "Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands (12 legions) of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?" Jesus knew the nails were coming to physically and painfully secure him to the cross. He also knew he could call a divine Delta Force to take him away from the whole painful, humiliating mess, but he stayed, endured excruciating pain and ridicule, and his love still covers a multitudes of sin today. What kind of love is that?

He passed the test.

I'm not telling you my score!

Ouch!