Love: I Corinth. 13:4-7

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.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)

When I was at church yesterday the teaching was directed to "unlearning" certain habits or methods we have embraced as we read, study, meditate on Scripture. Not everything needs to be "unlearned", but some of our dutiful, Bible check-lists, of reading the Bible daily because we feel guilty if we don't, needs to be discarded from the way we study God's Word. I needed to hear what was said and I often fall into the catagory of reading the Bible out of guilt rather than saying with the Psalmist "My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times." (Psalm 119:20)

Anyhow, the passage that was focused on was the Great Love Chapter: 1 Corinthians 13. Now, if anyone has been to a good amount of weddings, there is a great chance much of this may even be memorized. Heck, I remember going to a student's home one time and seeing this passage sewn into a little heart-shaped pillow next to the commode. This has definitely been a passage of Scripture that has been glanced over and stamped on every wedding invitation mailed out rather then being a passage which is meditated on, prayed over, and etched into the hearts and lives of followers of Christ.

My testimony: I mess up constantly on just about everything said in that passage. My version of love has always been very self-seeking and I expect absolute, impeccable, unfailing love in return. If you do me wrong, that gives me the opportunity to seek revenge. My level of tolerance has been short and I tend to enjoy keeping a record of right and wrong. That allows me to have some insurance when I sputter later on. Every girl I have dated has been expected to join my group of friends and embrace my world. I'll enter into her world every now and then, but it is much more comfortable and friendly in my world.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is I'm fed up with "loving" that way. If that is even love. The main thing that God has illuminated to me is that love does not insist on it's own way. I have always found more joy in giving and serving others and my fears and insecurities have probably kept me from radically loving and serving others daily. It is risky to give this sort of love away because you are not guaranteed that love in return. I want to meditate on this passage often and pray that every day I can suffer a violent death to the self-seeking love I have so often embraced. I also want to meditate on this passage so that I can allow this biblical definition of love to "re-shape" the worldly definition of love that I have wrongly believed over the years. I want to challenge everyone who reads this to open up to 1 Corinthians 13 and allow God to speak to you. We all need help in how we love. Marriages would be so much more intimate and joyful if both husband and wife loved this way. God would get more glory.

Venting session: I'm pretty much done with my blog, but I want to add that "love bears, hopes, and endures all things." Life is hard. As humans we continually mess up. We need to be conduits of grace daily. Love does not walk away without a fight. I feel as if I was hosed by someone who didn't want to embrace this aspect of love that I thought we shared. I'm OK with that and it really makes me think that a real "love" never exisited, because real love will put up a fight. We don't deserve God's grace and love. He commands us to forgive as he has forgiven us and I know this is not easy, but we must be gracious and forgiving in our love.