The Way of Love ~ 1 Corinthians 13 MSG
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, no matter what I believe, and no matter what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
*** This song makes me cry EVERY time I hear it... What I am I without Love? What am I without God's Love? Questions I am constantly asking myself... Do I live like that everyday? HOW do I live like that everyday??? There is always something or someone that will frustrate my day. Then I think I have failed because I didn't respond the way God wants me too. Sometimes my human emotions get in the way of that... irritating things... But that's my test, is it not? Is God waiting to see how I respond? Have I chosen to love unconditionally, or get so irritated and angry that I say or do something I'm not proud of? I say 9 times out of 10, I take the latter. How do you LOVE unconditionally? How? Is it possible? Not with out God. Something I am learning and relearning EVERY day. There will always be something standing in our way to "test" our ability to love, and there will always be someone watching us to see how we react. My new friend Linda pointed that out to me the other day. When Pastor Page passed away it seemed like a devastating blow to our church. But now everyone will be watching to see how we respond to God's choice in answering our prayers. He took Brent to heaven to no longer suffer, now it is up to us to show that we believe God did the right thing. We don't always get the answer in the way we were searching or praying for. If that was they case, we would all win the lottery and never be alone. Haven't you seen "Bruce Almighty"? It's not possible or smart {for the lack of a better term} to answer everyone's prayers the way they want... more to come... stay tuned...
TTFN ~ Athena
TTFN ~ Athena
