Looking for Opportunities to Do All Things in Love

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt

It’s February, the month that arrives tossing out chocolates and heralding romance. 

If you’re single, there’s Singles Awareness Day – as if you’re not aware of your relationship status. 

Whether you embrace, tolerate, or try to ignore the love oozing out of February, the theme remains front and center, at least until all the Valentine’s Day candy disappears.

I came across a Scripture verse earlier in the month that has stayed with me, one appropriate for this month. You know how you read a passage and it’s as if God uses his yellow highlighter and says, “Don’t miss this verse.”

For me it was 1 Corinthians 16:14 (NASB): Let all that you do be done in love.

Nine words near the end of the book, right after Paul has told believers to be alert. To stand firm. To be strong. He then says to do everything in love.

A slight change in focus, yes?

Let’s do a quick word study. The word “all” means, well, all. Any. Every kind of. Doesn’t allow for anything we do to be excluded.

Cross reference 1 Corinthians 16:14 with Matthew 19:26, which says, “… with God all things are possible.

Same word for all – and again this means nothing is impossible with God. 

What about the word love?

The Greek language has different words for love: 

• Storge love is familial love, the type of love Mary and Martha had for their brother, Lazarus (John 11:1-44).
• Phileo love is the warmth and affinity shared between close friends. When someone saw Jesus crying about the death of Lazarus, he said, “See how he loved him!” (John 11:36) The word for love there is Phileo.
• Eros love is romantic or sexual love, and is used in Song of Solomon to describe the love between a husband and wife.
• Agape love is the highest form of love, both everlasting and sacrificial. It is used in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, where we are told love is patient, kind, not easily angered, not proud, and much more.

The love used in 1 Corinthians 16:14? It’s Agape love, the same love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. 

You may be thinking, “How does this apply to me as a writer?”

You and I were created by the Creator to be creatives. And because we were created in His image, we are called to reflect Him to the world, both in our actions and our words – both spoken and written.)

One of the ways we can do this? By doing all things in love.

• When our writing journey takes longer then we expect, are we patient – or do we grumble about editors and agents?
• When another writer wins a contest or lands a contract, do we rejoice with them – or are we envious?
• When we pursue publication during a pandemic (still!), do we persevere with hope – or do we doubt and consider quitting?
• When we’re on deadline, are we gracious to our family – or are we so grumpy even our imaginary characters avoid us?

How can you live out doing all things in love – one day, one opportunity, at a time?

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Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, releasers May 2020. Other books in the women’s fiction series include Things I Never Told You, which won the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.