Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
One of my favorite professors at DTS, Dr. Mike Lawson, gave one of the best messages on love and relationships that I have ever heard. You can view the message here. In it, he recalled a seminary assignment that asked the students to go home and say this passage from 1 Corinthians to their spouse, substituting their own name for "love." Then the spouse was to evaluate them on how they were doing. I'm guessing that was a fairly uncomfortable conversation.
Spouse or no spouse, I think saying this passage with our own names in place of love is a humbling exercise and a good reminder of the kind of love we are called to live out on this earth. It doesn't require chocolates, roses, or fancy dinners. It requires a whole lot more. It requires dying to selfishness, to pride, to comfort. And it requires this sacrifice all day, every day.
No one loves like this except for God. But our goal should be, with the help of the Spirit, to emulate this kind of love to the best of our ability. Try substituting the word "Christians" for love in the passage. Pretty far off the mark, aren't we?
I pray we all seek more earnestly to live up to this kind of love, the kind that suffers unjustly, forgives unreservedly, and dies unhesitatingly for a world that desperately needs to see True Love.
Spouse or no spouse, I think saying this passage with our own names in place of love is a humbling exercise and a good reminder of the kind of love we are called to live out on this earth. It doesn't require chocolates, roses, or fancy dinners. It requires a whole lot more. It requires dying to selfishness, to pride, to comfort. And it requires this sacrifice all day, every day.
No one loves like this except for God. But our goal should be, with the help of the Spirit, to emulate this kind of love to the best of our ability. Try substituting the word "Christians" for love in the passage. Pretty far off the mark, aren't we?
I pray we all seek more earnestly to live up to this kind of love, the kind that suffers unjustly, forgives unreservedly, and dies unhesitatingly for a world that desperately needs to see True Love.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16
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