This is one of the days when the scripture itself is the bulk
of the devotional. I will make a few
brief comments afterwards, but I just encourage you to read the text itself a
few times slowly and prayerfully. Ask
God to speak into you as you read.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13, The Message
But now I want to lay out a far better way for you. 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.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day;
praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a
portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when
the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and
cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a
fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and
the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees
us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three
things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope
unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Just a couple of things:
1) This is NOT a wedding scripture. What Paul prescribes here is God’s
prescription for ALL relationships – your spouse, your children, your parents,
your crazy uncle, your neighbor, the lady in the office gunning for your job,
your worst enemy. Christ is the example
and Christ forgave those who nailed Him to a cross WHILE HE WAS ON THE
CROSS! We are supposed to relate to
everyone with love – no exceptions. This
is why Paul used the word “always” multiple times.
2) Until we love this way, we’re “squinting in a fog” or “peering
through a midst.” We don’t see people
the way God does until we can honestly let go of resentment, greed, selfishness,
rage, bitterness, grudges, jealousy, superiority, and judgement and replace all
those things with love expressed as all the fruits of the Spirit (joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), we
are nothing but “creaky, rusty gates” in danger of spiritual bankruptcy. And yes, the bar is VERY HIGH.
3) It is our relentless commitment to staying connected to
God’s Spirit that makes this possible.
If you’re fortunate, you had the privilege of being around someone who
practices this at a very high level. They
aren’t fazed by a lot of the foolishness that seems to trip us up. They seem to be able to let even grave
offenses just roll off their back. They
just keep loving. And when you try to commend them for it, they are incredulous
because they long to love even more than they do. They are continuously overwhelmed with how
God has loved them and they are driven to love the same way. These people are very rare, but God’s vision
for humanity is that it would be commonplace.
Question: If you
could love all people the way Paul describes, how would it change your life?
Prayer: God, help me
to connect deeply with Your perfect love for me. May it transform my will to love the way You
do. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people who are suffering from various forms of chronic pain.
Song: The Love of God
– Rosemary Siemens
