Jesus Time
-1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, 13
“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.”
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
-Let’s just look at this from a friendship perspective. We all have friends and I’m sure that we all have what we would call our “best friends.” Now, picture those close few friends and think about how much you love them. A lot right?
-Well, yeah, and you have good reason too. You spend time with them, you have known them a long time maybe, you understand each other, you confide in them, and you just generally love who they are and the fact that you can call them your best friend.
-Now, look back at the passage of scripture and read it. Let’s start with “love is patient…” Now, can you think of a time where you were impatient with a friend you have?
-Of course! We’re not perfect right? Obviously there has been a time where you were impatient with them. And probably many times. Now, obviously you could sit there and read every little one of the characteristics of love and say oh! I have done that wrong, and that too, and so on. But, that will do you no good without some application.
-A good way to “test” how you love people is by reading this passage and comparing the way love should be to the way that humans have wrongly warped it to look like.
-Do you really love the people you say you do? I mean, would you be willing to keep no record of wrongs? Because that’s how love is supposed to be right? According to the Bible yes. Would you be willing to always trust them? Always be kind and never angry or rude? Just think about that. That’s how love was made to be. I mean seriously. It makes you seriously question the way you go about loving people.
-Sometimes we say that we love the people closest to us and then we stab them in the back or secretly hope they fail at something. I mean let’s be honest. What if you’re the person who gets stabbed in the back by your friend because of some misunderstanding? Are you gonna show them love as it should be by being patient with them and forgiving them by keeping no record of wrongs? Or are you going to show them the jacked up love of this world? And that’s a tough choice because it is so tempting to fight fire with fire, but yet we are called to exemplify love daily. Ya, it’s a huge undertaking but we are appointed to do so. And I don’t have to tell you it’s hard because you know it is. No sugar coating here.
-The scripture goes on to say that love is even greater and more important than faith and hope. More important than faith? Say what?
-Yeah, the scripture literally is telling us that love is greater than faith. Just think about that. It will blow your mind.
-If you look at the end of verse 2 in this chapter you will read, “…and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing.” God is trying to tell us that He could care less if we know of Him and believe in Him if we do not love Him. He literally could care less, in fact he says in Revelation 3: 15-16 that He would rather us be basically either really bad or really good (hot or cold) than in the middle (lukewarm). Because if we are in the middle then he wants to vomit us out! And that’s exactly what He’s trying to point out here in 1 Corinthians when Paul writes this passage on love. He’s showing us that he wants our love above all else. And it is so much more important than just believing that He exists. Anyone can be a believer, but it takes LOVE to be a follower.
-So going back to love on a friendship level. How do we expect to love God if we cannot first train ourselves to sincerely love our friends, family, and even those we don’t know? The obvious answer is that we cannot. We are not perfect but we surely can try our hardest to live out this call to love. And when we fail to be patient, or when we fail to be hopeful or trustworthy, or kind, that is where God’s grace will come in and show us His perfect love that will forgive us every time if we just ask for it.
-Finally, we have to realize and accept that we are far from perfect. But we don’t have to be because God is our perfection and we can rely on Him in the times we cannot do it on our own. Don’t be discouraged if you find this love to be challenging. In fact, if it doesn’t challenge you then you are not doing it right. I promise you.
-Take some time daily to pray this passage of scripture over yourself. Ask God to give you the patience and the strength to persevere in this real way of love. You have to understand that God must be your crutch. Lean on him, and let him carry you when you no longer have the strength to love yourself. Because you know what; His love never fails, it never changes, and it’s freely offered to you. Just make use of it.
