John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Yesterday, my sister posted some observations on Facebook about 1 Cor 13. The one that struck me the hardest was the fact that 1 Cor 13 talks about how love is to be given, shared, not how it is received. Love is patient and kind, not arrogant or rude. It is not irritable or resentful. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is how love acts. This is how love is given. Jesus, help me to love like You love.
1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.
I am incredibly guilty of focusing on how love is received. It is easy to say, “Well, I *tried* to be kind, loving, compassionate, and that person was nasty to me in return, so I’m done.” We are not charged with loving people to the same degree they love us. We are told, again and again, to love one another in the same way that Christ loves us, to focus on how we give love, not on how others receive it. Jesus, Help me.
1 Cor 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
Lord, Thank You for this day and for this message. Thank You for loving me, fiercely and completely, even though I don’t deserve Your love and could never earn it, even though I’m sometimes grumpy and surly in response to Your love. Help me to focus on how I show Your love to others, Lord, regardless of how my actions are received. Draw me closer. Amen.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.