| If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 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. 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, what I believe, and 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. 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. 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. 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! 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. 1 Corinthians 13 (The Message) This passage will probably be familiar to most. We have seen it before on plaques, wedding invitations and romantic cards. I have included the whole passage from the Message Bible in order to provide a fresh reading. What does it really mean though. What is this love that passage speaks of? It is repeated 11 times throughout so it must be crucial to this passage. I do not think it is the affection and infatuation that is usually meant when the word is used. I do not think that the classical Greek classifications of agape, phileo, and eros tell us any more than we we already know – that love can take many forms and be expressed in many ways. Author Robert Heinlein defined love as “that state where another person’s happiness is essential to our own.” In my opinion that is a good starting point but it does not go far enough. I would expand it to read, “Love is that state where another person’s well being and happiness are essential to one’s own.” That addition might be implied in his definition or perhaps it was omitted because of Heinlein’s philosophy as a social darwinist. Either way, in my opinion it is one of the keys to truly loving. An extreme example of this is a person who loves an alcoholic. In the short term, a drink might make the person happy, but to give that person a drink is the antithesis of love. One who finds himself in such a situation must show their love by not giving the person that drink and denying that person short-term happiness. They may continue to show their love being there when they decides they need help. Another example might be shown in raising children. Any parent knows that some times love means having to say “No”. Allowing an infant to play with matches because a bright flame caught their eye is foolhardy. Sometimes limits are crucial in expressing our love, especially when they help ensure the well-being of the person. I want to know what true love is and in this pursuit, I will continue to look to the source, the author of love, God and the ways his love is described and shown in the coming days. |
Ray of Sonshine 