Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up.
1 Corinthians 13:4, LSB
Is love a choice? We often read the love verses in 1 Corinthians at weddings, but Paul was writing this to the Church. Love is not something we can choose, but it is. We can abide in it, but only in the same way that we can abide in Christ. It is out of submission to an emotion that is placed in us by the Holy Spirit and His guidance. When love fills us, it causes us to act differently and react differently. It is surprising when certain desires are no longer present and things contrary to our prior will happen. Love is never centered on self or only seeking to do that which is for the benefit of oneself. It is amazing how, when we walk in the love of our Lord, many things slip by us. Yet, if we try to mimic this on our own, we will find that it is truly not there. Christ doesn’t call us to be nice, but He calls us to love and to love as He loves. Love isn’t nice. It brings about kindness that is often sacrificial, not out of choice, but out of a change created by God in our nature. As we submit ourselves to Christ, the greater we find that His love flows from us and into the lives of others.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.