“If I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Everyone has 60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day.

Some will use the gift of time to be a blessing. Some will be a curse and a burden.

God gives to each of us the same amount of time every day.

We have the opportunity to use each day to be an agent of God’s blessing.

Our words, our actions, our relationships have tremendous power. We can use that power to cut down, destroy, injure, and harm. Or, we can use them to spread joy and gratitude.

Choose well.

Be a blessing.

Be an agent of God’s love.

Use the gift of time. Be present in every moment. Spread joy. Spread gratitude. Spread God’s shalom.

“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands” (Psalm 119:10).

How does one love? What does a person who is in love do? How can you tell that a person is in love?

A person who is in love with another person will do things that please the other, think about them constantly, think of ways that delights the other.

So, when we say we love God, how does one love God? What does a person who loves God do? How can you tell if a person loves God?

It’s no different than a person who is in love with another. A person who loves God will do things that please God, think about God constantly, and think of ways that delight the heart of God.

But, ultimately, a person who loves God seeks God with all their heart. And that a person seeks God with all their heart is demonstrated in how one keeps God’s commands. Loving God and obeying God’s commands are inseparable because obeying God is how one loves God.

The thing about loving God is that, unlike loving a person, God is invisible. You can’t touch God. You can’t see God. So, how can one love God?

That’s where God’s laws and commands come in. God’s laws and commands are the visible way that a person can love God.

Seek the LORD with all your heart. Do not stray from God’s commands. For it is in obeying God’s commands that we love God.

“Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach” (Proverbs 22:17).

Baltan Gracian (a 16th century Jesuit philosopher) wrote, “The wise does at once what the fool does at last.”

Yup.

Experience is a good teacher. But experience is a costly and painful teacher. And, what’s more, personal experience is often not necessary to learn the lessons learned from pain.

There is much in life you don’t have to personally experience in order to learn the lessons from the pain of failure:

• Addictions
• Abuse
• A failed marriage
• A broken family
• A broken friendship

I pray you don’t have to ever personally experience any of these things.

There is much we don’t have to personally experience to learn the lessons from them. The wise learn, not only from their own pain and failures, but from the failures and pain of others. There are some failures we were never meant to experience. There are pains God never meant for us to personally experience.

Be wise. Learn from wisdom. Pay close attention to what wisdom has to teach you. Pay attention to what God is constantly teaching you through his word and through his truth.

How do you do that?

First, pay attention. Look carefully at the people around you. Particularly pay close attention to those who are pursuing God and his righteousness. And then, compare their lives to those who aren’t. Pay attention.

Second, turn your ear to the wise. Listen to those who are living the life you want to live. Give your ear to the wise.

Finally, apply lessons learned from the wise. You will save a lot of heartache for yourself and those you cherish.