Y'all, we picked love for this month completely on God's advisement. Of course, that's how we should always roll, but I became suddenly without words on the topic. (That doesn't happen often). This should be easy right? I love my family and I love my life and I love my husband and I love my child and I love my dog and I love my truck. I'm the epitome of a country song. But love is just hard, isn't it?
We say we love a good book or a weekend at our favorite spot. We claim to love God with all of our heart. We love our spouse or child even when they leave trash in the back of our truck... ummm, or dirty dishes in our sink. But when it truly comes down to it, real love is hard.
I'll tell you a little secret...
I skim over 1 Corinthians 13. I'm not gonna lie. It's a lot to take in.
Here's what it reads...
Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Here's what I read...
Love is hard,
love is hard,
love is hard,
love is hard,
it's hard,
it's hard,
it's hard,
it's hard,
it's hard,
it's hard,
it's hard, etc. and whatnot.
Hard. Hard. Hard.
Y'all, I look around and see a whole lotta hard! How am I supposed to show kindness through love to the mean girl that continues to throw ill will at me like I'm in a dunkin' booth? How do I love through patience, when my child (or your child) will not listen and continues to disobey? How do I love my neighbor and not envy their nice house when I live in a shoebox? How do I not keep records of wrongs when that "friend" keeps being a sneakerton and doing things behind my back? How do I love and not be easily angered when I've had a long day? And let's add a little seasoning to that... how about some PTSD or abuse or neglect or grief or loss or too much change or just a bad day? How do I do it all after what I've been through? How do I do it all when I can't even love myself or my family or friends?
All of those words seem so impossible, so I sat down and pushed on through. I read it again... And again. And I read the whole chapter. (You should too... it's GOOD stuff)!
I started reading it a little differently and here is why. I remember as a kid having a friend that always gave the "church" answer in Sunday school. It was always "God" or "Jesus" or "God is love." Well, there's a little truth. God IS love. If I wanna be more like Jesus, then I've got to tackle this love thing! So I put my name in the place of love.
Anna is patient,
Anna is kind.
Anna does not envy,
Anna does not boast,
Anna is not proud.
Anna does not dishonor others,
Anna is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs.
Anna does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Anna always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Well, when I look at it that way, I'm at least 50/50 on being those things. That's not bad, right? And then God interjected. And showed me the real truth. I can be most of those things on my own, but with Jesus down deep in my heart and I can be all of those things... and WILL be all of those things. I don't have to try to tackle that list on my own. I have God IN me. That means through His power, I can be all of those things... to ALL of those people. Honestly, that's a bit overwhelming, isn't it?
But He knew that. I think that's why the end of the chapter assures us, that we will look at Him face to face and no longer be confused. We will understand His love as fully as He understands all of our "stuff" right this second.
And He ends assuring us that we still need faith and hope. It takes that to allow God to flow through us and keep Him first and love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39), BUT the greatest is still love.
I mean sheesh, when I stop and read it all again, everything changes. God doesn't expect me to be perfect, but to try... This is merely a faith walk to eternity. This is merely the teensiest beginning of our walk through the Kingdom. Trying and not being perfect (read: my living nightmare) is ok, because one day we will be face to face and the old, incomplete actions will fade away, and the new will come. And we will be complete in Him and understand true love. Our brokenness will become beautiful!
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
No comments:
Post a Comment