Love Is_____ “Unoffendable

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)

Agape: Unconditional, Benevolent, Charitable Love.

Reread with emphasis added:

⁴  (Unconditional) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ (Benevolent) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)

Patient: makrothyméō; to be long-spirited, forbearing or to suffer long, to have (long) patience, be patient, patiently endure.

“To be patient in bearing the offences and injuries of others; to be mild and slow in avenging; to be long-suffering, slow to anger, slow to punish”

The Bible is a story of God’s , compassion and abounding love to his people.

Psalms 103:8-12 (NIV)

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity,” Jonah 4:2 (NIV)

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) (emphasis added)

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (of his return), as some understand slowness. not wanting to perish, but to come to repentance.

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

1 John 4:10 (NIV)

^“10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God also love their brother and sister.

1 John 4:19 (NIV)

¹² My command is this: Love each other . ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:12 (NIV) (red letters)

Unconditional love is not a . It’s a .

This GOD defined love is resolved to be

The unmerciful servant. (The Message)

21.  At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”
22.  Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

^23-25.  “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

^26-27.  “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

28.  “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’

^29-31.  “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

^32-35.  “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

The unmerciful servant got it wrong when he focused on

Instead of how much he had .

How do I love like God loves?

1. Focus on the unconditional, patient, benevolent love of God.
2. Focus on your debt that was forgiven. Let go of what you are “owed”.
3. Ask him for help.