I used to have this friend that thought he was God’s gift to the world.  In his head, he thought that everything that he did was equivalent to perfection.  If he walked down the street, he thought every girl was drooling over him and wanted to have his babies.  When he would talk about sports, he would frequently talk about how good he was and how nobody could even compete with him.  Every time he did well on a test, he would walk up to the teacher with this smirk on his face, grab his paper, and walk back to his seat bragging about how well he did.  His arrogance made you want to punch him.

We have all seen arrogance in people before; this idea of their self-worth being far greater than anybody else just makes people squirm when they are around.  Why?  Because no matter what you do they will always try and exalt themselves over anyone else.  When we have any arrogance in us, we can not have a pure love.  This over exaggerated sense of one’s importance destroys selflessness and puts all the focus on self.  We have to rid ourselves of self and see the truth.  We are all sinners and unworthy of every breath we take, yet God has mercy on our lives.

Paul tells us in Romans to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought but to look with sober judgement.  What is your perspective on yourself?  Do you see yourself as God’s gift to humanity?  Or do you have a humble heart willing to put God and others first?

The other thing that love is not, is rude.  We have all been rude and probably snicker and fight back every day in some way or another.  But if we love somebody, we have to be willing to hold our tongue and not be rude.  Our flesh wants to fight back and protect our pride at all cost, but we are called to be polite and put that person’s best interest first.  Try this, next time somebody takes a punch at you with words, love them.  Hold the rude remarks that are about to come out of your mouth and just humble yourself.  Your reaction will go a long way, especially if you become consistent with how you love people.

Love is not arrogant, and it is not rude.  Pure love requires a sacrifice and is selfless.