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1 Timothy 6:11 (part 4: love)
The fourth thing that the Apostle Paul instructs Timothy to pursue is love. The Bible teaches us in 1 John 4:8 (NKJV) that “God is love.” The Apostle John continues in 1 John 4:10-11 IN this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” In 1 Corinthians 13:13 the Apostle Paul teaches, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
This is a command to pursue love.
“God is love” as we learn in 1 John 4:8, and our greatest command is to seek God and His great love for us in His Son, our Savior and the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36), He replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 declaring, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40).
Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
“Love never fails.” These are the characteristics of God Almighty, and these are the characteristics in which we should seek all the days of our lives.
Dear LORD,
You have shown us love in sending Your One and only Son to save us from our sins by dying in our place to set us free and give us new life. You have given us the characteristics of love for us to know and the command to seek them. Please give us the strength to overcome the ways of this world as we grow in love and in our lives with You – In Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.