The Love chapter in the Bible, First Corinthians 13, says it so plainly. When I was a young disciple I was required to memorize and practice this chapter. The essence of the chapter is that if you don't have love in your heart it doesn't really matter what else you can do. It won't mean a thing! Paul goes on to say, inspired of the Holy Spirit, the very spirit of love, even if you can speak in many different languages, or even in the language of angels, but if you don't have LOVE it is the same as the noisy, cold clanging of metal.

No matter what you have suffered or sacrificed or given up, no matter what you have given other people, if it was not done out of love for them then it is nothing! Then he goes on to explain what real love really means. "Charity (Love) suffereth long and is kind" Longsuffering is one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 and so is kindness. Longsuffering is exactly what it says. It suffers long and does not seek to retaliate and get even. It is kind.

Charity (love) envieth not." You won't be jealous or envious of other people that have better things than you do or a better situation than you. "Charity (love) vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." If you have love, you will not lift yourself above others or try to show how better you are at something than others. You won't be conceited and proud and think of yourself as being better than other people. "Doth not behave herself unseemly, seeketh not her own."

You will act maturely in handling different problems and situations that come up, and you will think about the good, welfare and happiness of others before your own. "Is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil." You will not be easily angered by others to strike out at them and you will not even think evil about anyone. "Rejoiceth not in iniquity , but rejoiceth in the truth."

You will not do wrong to others and will not be happy to see other people doing wrong things to others either. "Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." If you have been offended or hurt, you will forgive others and suffer it without feeling you have to get back at them for hurting you. You will have faith in people and trust them, even when it is difficult to. You will have a positive outlook on the future, without worrying about what is going to happen, and you will be strong enough to endure hard times, trials and testings that you will experience without losing heart.

"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Love never fails. Enough love can solve even the most difficult of problems. Even though there are many prophecies, they have come true or will someday so there will be an end to them at some time. Talking and arguing, debating, yelling and screaming, harsh and hateful words will all come to nothing.

Even knowledge is not enough if you want to solve the problems of the world today. Every 5 years the world doubles it's knowledge but still it has not gained enough knowledge to solve the problems of civilization. The whole world is emmersed in its problems and can't get out of them no matter how smart it gets. Nope, knowledge,technology, science, higher education etc. are not solving the emmense serious problems of this world, in fact ,they are only getting worse!

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." The three things that mankind needs to survive is faith, hope and love. Humans cannot live without these things. These three powerful components are capable of solving all the problems on this Earth, if mankind will only give them a chance! Even love alone can solve any problem if you give it a chance. The problem is that the world does not want to give love a chance because that means they will have to forgive people who have wronged them.

That means that they may have to give up some of the things they want in order to let others have them. That means they will have to be kind and cannot hate anymore. That is a very hard thing to do for most of the people in the world today who live their lives in so much bitterness, hate seeking revenge against their enemies! What was that Jesus said? "Love your enemies." Love is revolutionary! That is why they killed Jesus! He preached love! Love is the most powerful revolutionary force because it says to love your enemies! It says to put down your weapons and hug your brother!

In the following passage Jesus gives an instructions on how to love your brother. Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Can we be perfect? If you have love, then you are perfect and have the nature of God, and God is perfect! When we don't have love , of course we cannot be perfect. John said that perfect love casts out fear. So even though we cannot be perfect in this flesh, we can still have perfect love, and that shows the nature of God. That shows that we are His children, and have the nature of our Father, the nature of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What? You say you can't forgive your mother in law? You say you can't forgive your wife or husband or brother or sister, or father or mother or whoever messed up your life? If you cannot forgive them then you cannot have the love of God because only God's love can forgive.

The key to a happy life, the key to health and healing, prosperity and blessing is love and forgiveness. The key to all of the opposites of those things are just the opposite, poverty, sickness, sadness, separation from God, others and yourself, forever. God said that if you cannot forgive someone for their sins against you neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you your sins, so that is a sad thing not to get your sins forgiven because you refuse to forgive someone or someones.

That bitterness will just eat away at your heart and you will get worse and worse. It is like a cancer that grows down deep and embeds its roots deep down in your heart. Like vines and weeds the roots grow and grow until they have spread everywhere and have become a part of your very nature and personality. You don't have to tell anyone about it, they can just see it on your face and hear it come out of your mouth. They can see it in your actions and words and the Bible says many will be defiled! Poisoned!

Here is another passage where Jesus tells a story about someone who had bitterness against someone who owed him money and could not forgive him even though he himself was forgiven of his tremendous debt of much much more!

Matthew 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But for as much as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

That is a pretty strict warning and teaching! Stricter even than the Laws of Moses! After the man was forgiven of his huge debt he turns around and abuses the man who owed him much less and had him thrown into prison! The king heard about it and dealt with him harshly for it!

Because it is more evil to treat people with hate and bitterness than to owe someone money and have a hard time paying it back. Yet people in the world KILL others for money, revenge, jealousy, hate, and seek justice to satisfy their own lust for power to see that person suffer they way they suffered. I know the feeling of wanting to get revenge. It was because I had forgotten all the wrong I had done, and only could see the wrong someone else had done to me. I felt justified in seeing that other person suffer for what they did to me and of course I could never have done anything so horrible to anyone as they did to me! The truth was that I had, but I didn't see that then. I was too blinded by hate and bitterness to see.

It is the same with Jesus forgiving our sins. How quick we are to judge and condemn others for their mistakes against us and are so blinded by hate and revenge that we fail to see that Jesus already forgave them on the cross! He also forgives them now! So if Jesus forgave them already but I refuse to forgive them, does that mean that I am more righteous than God because He forgave them but I want to hold on to the justice of the devil, and wish to see them crucified? You can argue up and down and debate about it," Well they deserve it " or " well they broke the law" or " They must suffer like I did." But that does not make it the right thing. Jesus already said what the right thing to do was if you want to do the Godly thing, the loving thing. If you just don't want to do the loving thing, well that's fine, and it's your choice, but you cannot say you are a Christian and that you are in fellowship with God and others when you have bitterness and hate in your heart!

John said that whoever hates his brother is a murderer! You wouldn't think of yourself as a murderer would you? But that is what the Bible says, so if you are a Christian but you are hating your brother or your mother - in - law, or have bitterness against someone else, it will affect you and others around you in a very bad way. That bitterness and hate will rob you and others around you of happiness, joy, peace of mind and can lead to all kinds of mental and health problems, and will be manifested in such things as arguing, violence, not speaking to each other, dirty looks, hateful deeds, not wanting to see that person, dreading or resenting that other person, wanting to see that person punished for what he or she did to you.

That is not because you want to see justice done. It is because you were hurt sand now you think they deserved to be hurt the way you were, in fact even worse! You think no one deserves to be avenged like you do and there isn't anyone in the world who understands the hurt you went through like you do. If that happens to you then you know that is the warning sign. The danger signal that you had better get your heart right with that other person and God as soon as possible, or you won't be able to even sleep! Now do you really believe it that your bitterness is worth all that? Remember, Love Never Fails! Jesus Never Fails! What Everyone Needs Is Love! It's Love and only Love the whole world yearns for!