[Be sure to read the verses before you go any further... Click the link to read online.]
Without love, nothing else matters.
Not our faith, our knowledge, our gifts, our sacrifices.
It's all for nothing, if it's not motivated by love.
God is love. All He does and is can be interpreted through love. A love we might not understand very well if we look at the world's definition of love.
What kind of loving boss would pay the same wage to those who worked one hour as those who worked eight?
God.
What kind of loving preacher tells his followers they can't follow him unless they hate their dad and mom, their children and siblings, even themselves?
God.
What kind of loving father would send his perfect son as a sacrifice to save ungrateful, rebellious, disobedient servants?
God.
God's love is not based on fairness, equity, or partiality. God's love is founded in grace. Unmerited, undeserved, unreasonable grace.
Our passage today gives us God's definition of love. It was quite a revelation for me the day I realized God was describing Himself... patient, kind, without envy, not boastful, not proud, never dishonors others, never self-seeking, not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs (?!), He never delights in evil, He rejoices with the truth, He always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. He never fails!
Do you understand His love any better when you see Him in this passage? Are any of your misconceptions of God exposed? (How about the record keeping? Didn't you always imagine Him with a list of all your wrongs?)
Which aspect of love (the biblical definition) is the hardest for you to come to terms with?
Mine? Well, love always trusts... that's the one I stumble over. What about you?
Consider sharing your struggle with God's love in the comment section below. Because really, from the world's perspective, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Lord, redefine love in my heart.
I want to love like You and see Your love at work in the world.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:16
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