Good morning -
It's at least as great a need now as ever. The world needs more love.
Although there is probably no better-known Bible passage than 1 Corinthians 13, familiarity with it does not automatically translate into practice. Love is still the "more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31), but sadly it is a lonely path in our world today.
Love is the sole distinguishing mark of followers of Jesus (John 13:35), but it will be in short supply at the time of the end ("Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." Matthew 24:12). Keeping the flame of love burning is a major challenge.
Without love all acts of service become meaningless:
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Love is not mushy sentimentality; it is the driving force behind truth, faith, endurance and hope ("rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:6-7). Without love truth become irrelevant and endurance, faith, and hope are diminished. Love truly is the passion that energizes our spiritual existence.
A loveless marriage is not really marriage, nor is a loveless Christian life really a Christian life. The essence of it all is love for God and others (Matthew 23:36-40). Without passionate love for our Father His truth becomes unimportant as do His promises. Love for the Father enables genuine love for others.
While love is the priority, I sometimes am troubled when I see the icy winds of indifference blowing in my own life. It's easy enough to love those who love me, but what about the lost and dying all around? Do I truly care about those who will not enter the Kingdom of God unless they undergo radical spiritual transformation? What would the compassion that can only be stirred by love cause me to do and say?
The world does need more love if true change is to occur. Love will open hearts to the rule of Christ, and will champion truth, endurance, faith and hope. It will make us the kinder, gentler people that the world desperately needs and wants.
Seeking the more excellent way today,
Pastor Steve
It's at least as great a need now as ever. The world needs more love.
Although there is probably no better-known Bible passage than 1 Corinthians 13, familiarity with it does not automatically translate into practice. Love is still the "more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31), but sadly it is a lonely path in our world today.
Love is the sole distinguishing mark of followers of Jesus (John 13:35), but it will be in short supply at the time of the end ("Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." Matthew 24:12). Keeping the flame of love burning is a major challenge.
Without love all acts of service become meaningless:
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Love is not mushy sentimentality; it is the driving force behind truth, faith, endurance and hope ("rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:6-7). Without love truth become irrelevant and endurance, faith, and hope are diminished. Love truly is the passion that energizes our spiritual existence.
A loveless marriage is not really marriage, nor is a loveless Christian life really a Christian life. The essence of it all is love for God and others (Matthew 23:36-40). Without passionate love for our Father His truth becomes unimportant as do His promises. Love for the Father enables genuine love for others.
While love is the priority, I sometimes am troubled when I see the icy winds of indifference blowing in my own life. It's easy enough to love those who love me, but what about the lost and dying all around? Do I truly care about those who will not enter the Kingdom of God unless they undergo radical spiritual transformation? What would the compassion that can only be stirred by love cause me to do and say?
The world does need more love if true change is to occur. Love will open hearts to the rule of Christ, and will champion truth, endurance, faith and hope. It will make us the kinder, gentler people that the world desperately needs and wants.
Seeking the more excellent way today,
Pastor Steve
posted by steve @ 8:05 AM
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