The Way of Love

We are bankrupt without love. It doesn’t matter what we say or do, accomplish or succeed at, without love, it’s all pointless. Even giving up our lives is without purpose unless it involves love. This is worth dwelling on...how much of our lives are we going through the motions and doing things that appear sacrificial and loving but are actually just a job or duty and done out of wrong motivations?

1 Cor. 13 is a remarkable chapter, one of the most recognizable portions of scripture that even people who are not in church would have heard of. 

I think in the past, I’ve seen it as sort of a ‘to do list’, a ‘standard of excellence’ that I clearly don’t measure up to. I guess that would be one interpretation of it, but it’s not a helpful one for me. I think most of us already know we don’t measure up. We tend to already be harder on ourselves than God is. When I’m still and quiet and really listen, most of the time, I hear God reminding me of His love for me, His delight in me. 

I’ve heard people say to substitute your name in for the word ‘love’ in this chapter. 

Ruth never gives up.

Ruth cares more for others than for self.

Ruth doesn’t want what I don’t have.

And so on.

It’s definitely a way to show my inadequacy, but I’m already pretty aware of my failings. Jesus is the only one who loves in the way this chapter talks about. He is the Complete One. We are incomplete. When The Complete arrives...then and only then will we be complete too.

If instead I read the chapter with the word Jesus inserted for love and I actually live in the light of His great love for me, then and only then can I actually trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly and love extravagantly in my very real world today. (Faith, Hope and Love)

Jesus never gives up.

Jesus cares more for others than for self.

Jesus doesn’t want what he doesn’t have.

Jesus doesn’t strut.

Jesus doesn’t have a swelled head.

Jesus doesn’t force himself on others.

Jesus isn’t always ‘me first’.

Jesus doesn’t fly off the handle.

Jesus doesn’t keep score of the sins of others.

Jesus doesn’t revel when others grovel.

Jesus takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.

Jesus puts up with anything.

Jesus trusts God always.

Jesus always looks for the best.

Jesus never looks back but keeps going to the end.

Jesus never dies.

How does His great love change everything for you? How does His great love change our home life, our neighborhood, our church, our town, our nation, our world? It’s there...we’ve just got to grow in our awareness of it and really believe it.

-Ruth Spencer