Beth Moore study: Living Beyond Yourself

I got a new book called Living Beyond Yourself Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit for Christmas. It is based on Galatians 5:22, 23--

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

I've been working through the lessons at my own pace, doing them along with a couple other things I'm studying during my quiet time.

This study has really been a blessing just like the other Beth Moore studies I've done. The first two weeks were about the Spirit and proved very informative to me. This third week has been about love. It is helpful for me how Beth explains the various words in Greek or Hebrew. This helps put new meaning to the verses for me and expand my mind to what they are really saying.
I wanted to share some things I learned on day 3 ("Agape: Caring Love") and day 4 (More About Agape). She details each characteristic of agape love that we find in I Corinthians 13, the love chapter. I Corinthians 13:4-8--

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

This passage is so familiar to me. It is one we hear quoted often at weddings or in lessons. Sometimes I find myself just rushing through the list instead of focusing intently on each quality of love. I found I need to work on several of these! The beautiful thing that Beth pointed out at the end is you can't have these qualities on your own. No matter how hard you try you can't do it. These qualities come through the Spirit living in you.

One that stuck out to me is "Love keeps no record of wrongs." She posed the question what kind of ability does God have to forgive and forget and how does that compare with my ability to forget wrongs.

Another one that I learned something about is love "always protects." When I hear this I think of physical protection from harm. The Greek word though is stego which means "to cover over in silence." If we have agape for another we aren't going to expose their faults to others. She tied this with I Peter 4:8, which says "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." I was thinking wow as I read that and saw how they fit together so perfectly.

One more that I really liked is love "always perseveres." Agape doesn't give up, it "hangs in there."

I will probably be sharing more from the study in the coming weeks.
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"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I, For you have been my refuge." Psalm 61:1-3