Elisabeth Elliot: Love does not envy. Do you envy the married people? Do you married people envy the single people?

Lisa Barry: The list of things we're prone to envy is endless, isn't it? Maybe it's your neighbor's house or their job or someone's popularity or fame. I doubt if there's even one person who doesn't struggle with this at one time or another. But when it comes to authentic love, there is no room for envy. Does that seem like an impossible goal? Well, it just might be from a human perspective, but with God all things are possible.

Today on Gateway To Joy, Elisabeth Elliot reveals a few more characteristics of love and what we have to do to work them into our own lives. Find out more as we begin this Thursday edition of Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "Love each other," Jesus says, "as I have loved you." Nowhere does Jesus say, "Love yourself as I have loved Myself." Nowhere. It's not in the Book.

"This is how we know what love is: Christ laid down His life." This is how you and I will learn to love: By laying down our lives, including that fierce, fiery desire for something that God is not giving you. Will you put it on the altar? Will you say what Jesus said in Gethsemane, after He had sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in the agony that it took Him to say this: "Not My will, but Thine be done."

His first petition was very simple and very humble and very human. "If it be possible, Lord, let this cup pass from Me." God is saying, "Will you trust Me? Will you love Me? Will you receive what I want to give you?"

"Love each other as I have loved you." The word "love" occurs 28 times in the Book of John, and that's not counting "loved" and "loving" and various other forms of that word.

A lady came to a preacher one day and she said, "Oh, preacher, please pray for me. I need patience." So the preacher put his hand on the lady's shoulder and he said, "Oh, Lord, send this lady all kinds of tribulation." She stopped him and she said, "Wait a minute. That's not what I asked for. I asked you to pray for patience." He said, "The Bible says, 'Tribulation worketh patience.'"

There isn't any other way to learn it. There isn't any other way to learn all these aspects of love which are spelled out in 1 Corinthians 13.

"Love does not envy." Do you envy the married people? Do you married people envy the single people?

"It does not boast. It is not proud." Pride is the arch sin of the human race. It was pride that lifted up its heart against God in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve made a declaration of independence. They didn't need God, because God was cheating them of the one thing that they were absolutely convinced would make them happy.

Marriage, in the minds of very many women and men, is the one thing that they believe will make them happy. We who have been married perhaps more than 24 hours can tell you that's not going to work. No human being can make you happy. Many human beings can make you a little happier, and that's the kind of human beings we all want to be-the kind who make other people happy. That's certainly what we want to do.

But as for fulfillment, remember St. Augustine's words: "O Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

I copied into the front of my Bible these few lines from George MacDonald. It's a little poem called "To One Unsatisfied." "When with all the love around thee, still thy heart says, 'I am lonely,' it is well the truth hath found thee: Rest is with the Father only."

You might connect that with Psalm 62:1 or Psalm 16:5. It says, "Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup." That is exactly what we can say with all honesty today. We do not know what God is going to give us tomorrow or what God is going to take away from us tomorrow. But what you have today, if it's singleness, if it's marriage, if it's this husband, if it's a hope that's unfulfilled, whatever it is, it has been assigned. God has assigned us our portion and our cup. To me, that is such a calming, reassuring, steadying truth in my life. "You have assigned me my portion and my cup and have made my lot secure."

I have actually been single more years than I have been married. If you could figure out the arithmetic, you would know that I'm telling you the truth. But in each period of my life, I want to pursue His goodness.

Joseph Addison wrote a beautiful hymn: "When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view I'm lost in wonder, love and praise."

In the last part of that hymn, and he's got about seven verses I think to that hymn, "Through every period of my life"-singleness, marriage, widowhood, marriage, widowhood, marriage again, and I hope Lars is going to outlast me-but each of those are periods of my life. "In every period of my life, Thy goodness I'll pursue; and after death in distant worlds, the glorious theme renew."

I want every period of my life to glorify God. The lessons are myriad; the assignments for each day. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Now for what I call the categorical imperative. Jesus gives us some categorical imperatives, and one of them is in Matthew 5:20. "I tell you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

That is a sobering word, isn't it? There is in all of us the spirit of Phariseeism. But Jesus said unless our righteousness exceeds or surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. That certainly ought to put us on our knees before the Lord, as we ask Him to enable us to be righteous in His sight, to be holy and to receive what God wants to give to us.

In 1 John 3:10, connect that with the words that I've just read to you. Our righteousness must pass that of the Pharisees if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. Then here are some stern words from 1 John 3:10: "Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

We're so grateful, all of us, who read that verse to know that John in the same epistle tells us that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. We do wrong, don't we? But we have an Advocate.

Probably one of the most difficult questions that I'm constantly being asked has been answered very clearly and succinctly in a quotation by Francis de Sales, whose dates are 1567-1622. He is so practical and so down-to-earth that I thought you might like to hear this. "Strive to see God in all things without exception."

Now please do not put in the question box some story of some terrible disaster that's happened and say, "Elisabeth, please tell me how this fits into God's pattern for good," because I can't tell you how. I can only tell you that it does, because that's what it says in Romans 8:28. Everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.

So this de Sales quotation: "Strive to see God in all things without exception and acquiesce in His will with absolute submission. Do everything for God, uniting yourself to Him by a mere upward glance or by the overflowing of your heart towards Him. Never be in a hurry. Do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God."

This is the secret, ladies. Our instant rush of emotion, the retort that we're tempted to fire at someone who has hurt us-all of that can be brought under control immediately if you commend it to God. "Lord, I give You my angry feelings. Lord, I give You my sharp, fiery tongue."

"Commend all to God, and then be still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in the determination to cling simply to God, trusting to His eternal love for you.

And if you find that you have wandered forth from this shelter, recall your heart quietly and simply. Maintain a holy simplicity of mind and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes or longings under any pretext."

Oswald Chambers once said that we often "hang by the skin of our teeth and say, 'What a wonderful victory I have got,' but the Lord's way is more than conqueror for Him who loved us." God will never give us a command which He will not enable us to fulfill. Remember the man with the withered hand.

Jesus says to us today, "Do you love Me?" The proof of love is obedience. God bless you.

Lisa Barry: As we bring this program to a close, I want to first give you an opportunity to purchase a copy of this series. It's called LOVE THAT'S OUT OF THIS WORLD. Listen to it when you need to refocus, or share it with a friend and then discuss one program at a time.

We also have a book and tape catalog we'd be happy to send to you. That way you can get a hold of books that are available, but we might not be mentioning now on the air.

And if it's possible for you to financially give to this program right now, we would be grateful. It's only as you join with us that we are able to continue. God chooses to make us accountable to Him through you, so let us know how we're doing and if we're meeting a need in your life.

Our address is Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

We'll hear questions from this Dallas audience tomorrow, so plan to join us then for another Gateway To Joy.