Love Is a Battlefield

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 it 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 NLT

"Love is a battlefield..."  Oh how does the phrase from a classic 80's ballad ring true.  We have such a worldly view of what love should be and when we enter onto to that battlefield, so often we are unaware of the damage that can be received. 
God set love apart. When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was He told them....
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.  And love your neighbor as yourself. 

These verses from 1Corinthians 13 are the essential characteristics of love.  I am especially drawn to the last verse...
Love never gives up...
Love never loses faith...
Love is always hopeful...
Love endures through every circumstance.
If you love it....fight for it.

Stand Firm

"So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on shakey legs.  Mark out a straight path for your feet.  Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong."  (Hebrews 12:12-13  NLT)

I have often drawn strength for myself from verse 12 in the passage above.  We are going to become battle weary, tired, in need of rest....
Yet we are encouraged to continue to fight.  And although I have read the second part of this scripture I had not really let it take root until recently.  We not only need to fight on, hold ground, take hold for our own survival, but there are others who depend on it.  I have been weary recently, in need of rest and ready to withdraw.  I have experienced the need for a new grip and the physical and spiritual results of having shaky legs, yet the battle still goes on and I am painfully aware that there are others whose lives may depend on whether I choose to fight or not.

We fight for Him not for ourselves.  We gain ground for His Kingdom, and follow His orders.  May we all continue to hold the ground we've claimed and regardless of our tired hands and shaky legs may we mark out a straight and narrow path, helping those who may be weak or lame so that they will grow strong.