"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." ~1 Corinthians 13:1-3Paul tells us if we have everything but love we have nothing. Is it therefore fair to say that if we nothing but love, we have everything? This has certainly been my experience. In order for us to become non-judgmental Christians who leave love-prints on the hearts of those God brings across our path, our goal is to need nothing and depend entirely on God. We must love as if we have nothing to hide, nothing to prove, nothing to fear and nothing to lose.
We go on to read in the next passages of 1 Corinthians what this Love, Christ calls us to, should look like lived out. "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. Love never fails." ~1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13. This is how Christ Loves - selflessly, sacrificially all the way to the cross and as a result through His love we experience life and life abundant! In turn Jesus says to us "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." ~ John 15:12
We go on to read in the next passages of 1 Corinthians what this Love, Christ calls us to, should look like lived out. "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. Love never fails." ~1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13. This is how Christ Loves - selflessly, sacrificially all the way to the cross and as a result through His love we experience life and life abundant! In turn Jesus says to us "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." ~ John 15:12
No comments:
Post a Comment