my friends are amazing. they all have such a power and capacity to love, it's beyond description. their love is a reflection of how Jesus loves the church. that shows through the multiple weddings we had this summer, and one or two still to come. but it doesn't take a marriage to reflect Christ's love. all it has to be is unconditional.
i have seen how pain has ripped apart relationships. i have witnessed someone hurt who refuses to forgive. i've seen it quite a few times. but nothing that i go through will make me forget the amount of love there is in the world.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
As for prophecies, they will pass away;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,
even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
As for prophecies, they will pass away;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,
even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
I never really understood all of chapter 13 until now. Now I know in part... then I shall know fully... as I am fully known. God understands us so well, and in such completeness, and yet he insists on loving us still. We are ugly and can only produce things that are beautiful outside of ourselves. We cannot create life outside of the mystery of conception, and even then we can't do anything to make it happen--we only hold the power to stop it.
But love endures. We can love, and in that act of love we become closer to God than anything else can ever bring us.
Be an encouragement of love to someone. Just love.
3 comments:
Your last phrase "Just love" makes me think of the title of a book I want to read "A Long Obedience in the same direction" I don't know why.. maybe because both echo a truth written about by CS Lewis to Dom Bede Griffiths on 8 May 1939:
"The process of living seems to consist in coming to realize truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes. They cannot sound otherwise to those who have not had the relevant experience: that is why there is no real teaching of such truths possible and every generation starts from scratch."
The truth i'm referencing is in the first sentence. "Just love" sounds so simple, like some barren platitude, unless you see the amazing implications of "A Long Obedience in the same direction"
Um... I can't really tell if that's a compliment or criticism. lol.
"When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."
The Bible is full of beautiful imagery, and this is a fine example. I love the metaphor here about seeing in a mirror dimly. How awesome to think that as we mature in our walk with God our knowledge of His fullness also increases. Love is the ultimate commandement; imagine a world (or church) where we all walk in love toward our fellow men. This chapter contains weighty material, but I also find it inspires me to reach for new heights and become more like Christ.
Great quote, Daniel. It is simple, but oh, so profound and lifechanging.
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