The lesson of the ring

In the previous post, I had concluded with the note of how sacred God views on marriage are, based on the story of Abraham. I however had only highlighted one event in which Abraham deceived someone into believing that Sarah was not his wife out of fear of dying (Genesis 20). It is important to note that the second incident in which he once again deceived a ruler; occurs after God had reaffirmed His promise to them and changed their names. Which is something I too can relate to where God tells me something and then a situation arises in which I do not question the validity of His word, but am blind sighted by this temporarily situation or trial. This is why we need to be just constantly be soaked in God, His word, His presence and just seeking Him in all things.  This time around it is King Abimelech, the king of Gear who has been misled. On this specific occurrence, God does not send plagues against the kingdom, but appears to the king through a dream and declares the penalty for having taken another man’s wife would be the death of him and all that was his. However the king disputes God’s verdict to be unfair and  that he was innocent as he was a victim of deception; in which case God gives him the chance to rectify this by returning Sarah to her husband.  This is one of the extreme cases where God truly shows that He will not accept adultery, even when one party is being deceived; to the extent that He would warn a man through his dreams and even make a whole household barren. This should show just how profound of an offense it is to defile another man’s wife. Since God, didn’t even withhold His hand from David, who was favored by God and had been famous for being a man after God’s very own heart. We see that in 2 Samuel chapters 11-12, where David had an affair with Bath-sheba, Uriah’s wife; we see David choosing to simply discard the fact that she is married and gratifies himself with her. There is no deception going on here and the laws had already been passed down by God through Moses, so he was well aware that his actions were going against God’s will. However he still seeked to gratify his momentary desires, although he had his own wives. This is a situation very common in the modern day, in fact so common that people no longer view it as a serious offence; besides you can just have an open marriage many believe where you are both in a marriage yet have agreed to date other people and gratify yourselves with them as you see fit. This is the day and age we live in; where you are seem old fashioned and uptight if you are trying to persevere the sacredness and purity of marriage. We may not be living in a period in time where people were stoned as a result of adultery; however the standards of God for a marriage have not altered. God was against taking another man’s wife in the days of Abraham, was still against it in the days of David, was still against it at the birth of the New Testament and is still against it now. However God does introduce an open door to those who fall into this sin, be it through flirting, desiring, thinking or even acting upon these lusts of attraction; God offers a door, Christ is the doorway we can be brought back to the Father by.

To evaluate, in the case of the pharaoh the consequence of taking another man’s wife were plagues, in the case of the king it was barrenness and the penalty of death for him and all who were under his household. Now in the case of David, God uncovered his affair through pregnancy, which then lead to David trying to conceal his secret with trying to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so they could pretend that he was the father of the child, however God reveals all hidden things and brings them forth to the light (Luke8:17), thus this fails. David does not loose heart though; he then decides to take the man’s life and then marries her. That is the hidden trap of sin, it does not just end with a figurative “one glass of wine”, and one sin can easily become a lifestyle. As adultery doesn’t just begin and end at hello, but starts with kindness, masks itself as trying to be there for someone, then grows into daily chats, which then grows to flirting and then ends with cloths on the floor. While at other times, it’s the hello and straight to the deed, none the less once the thoughts and desires are entertained the rest can easily become a blur. We are therefore called to flee sin and not look through the window at it as she washes, watch the way it walks or invite it into our homes for private chats, nor enjoy seductive conversations with it (1 Corinthians 6:18). Believe it or not God does give us the laws for our own benefit, He knows just how weak we can be and just how easily we can yield to sin, thus do not even write a goodbye note, just flee for your life, because it is a matter of life and death.

Back to David, he has displeased God, should God simply overlook this sin as it was David, God anointed David, who committed this one sin, which quickly became sins? What is God to do? God pardons his sin, however not without consequence; the reason being that David’s sin was not just against Uriah, but more greatly against God as he had disgraced the very name of God he was called by (we too as believers are called by this very name, we don’t simply represent ourselves but God). Thus the consequence is the death of the child who is the result of the sin; to summarize God being the merciful God that He is, who remembers and hears the cries of His people when the repent with honest hearts, He restores (Leviticus 26:40-46,Deuteronomy 30). He takes away the plagues in Egypt, He heals the king and removes the barrenness, and blesses David and Beth-sheba (Uriah’s wife), with another son who was loved by God.  Just as Christ forgave the woman caught in adultery, He is able to forgive us today, however the woman was told to “sin no more”. There needs to be that clear line and division from before you sought after the forgiveness of God and after you received it; it is insulting to God to seek forgiveness and then to only go back to the very sin.

 

In essence, the Lord God wants to bless us, but let us not be deceived we cannot expect the blessings of God and want to hold onto disobedience and dishonor. We need to either let go of the hand of God and live out or days in sin or let go of sin and hold onto God with everything we have and all that we are. God and the clemency is there, it has been established through Christ it has been proven and completed we just need to love Him through Christ in the Holy Spirit beyond our own desires.

More than just a ring

As I was reading the story of Abram further, God revealed something to me; at first glance I view the section in verses 14-20 in chapter 12 to be a moment of fear in Abram and Him losing sight of God’s promise in a way. This is something we can all relate to, the short-sightedness of mankind’s nature. In this section, we find them needing to take refuge in Egypt as a result of famine. Now the thing to note here is that due to his wife’s beauty, Abram believes that (with his own humanly knowledge) he should pretend that his wife is his sister. The reason behind this deception is of fair reason; he believes that the men of this country may seek to kill him in order to take his wife to be theirs. Now the first thing which pops out for me in this scripture is that since God, had already promised him that He would bless him with a seed which would inherit a specific land, was that then not God placing a seal of guarantee that He would be alive at least long enough to have that child? Human reasoning can get the best of us at times, as we may face one specific situation/impediment and we feel that we are done for. We forget that God has given us a promise that one day you will be queen; surely enough God would not allow you to die at least not until that crown has been placed on your head. I do not believe it to be a lack of faith however, but maybe a matter of misplaced reasoning. For if we look at the story of David, in the book of 1 Samuel, we find that King Saul attempted to kill him on several occurrences, but God was with Him, reason; God had anointed him to be the next future king. Hence, when God has made a promise He will keep it and we need to start fighting the urge to reason out a resolution with our own minds.

This however was not the lesson which God had for me. The other lesson in the story is God’s standpoint on marriage. As Abram was pretending to be the brother of his wife, the Pharaoh thus assumed that she was single, and was treating both well as a result of this. Now the scripture does not provide much detail concerning which lines were being crossed, but we could assume that there was courting of some sort as he (the pharaoh) was seeking to make Sarai his wife, as she was taken into his house. This would be the modern day dating or flirting equivalent; however with more constraints, I can only assume. As a result of this harmless situation as Abram had perceived, the pharaoh and his household is punished by God through the use of plagues.  Now the Lord has not yet set out His commandments at this stage in history, but this is an early indication as to what extent God would protect the marriage covenant from being tainted. While at the same times showing His disapproval of adultery in any form and under any circumstances. Thus revealing His stand point on the matter, and therefore if this was the stand which He took then though the pursuing party was the one being deceived into believing that she was available, God however still objected. This then demonstrates that the marriage covenant should be kept revered, even from the modern day “harmless flirting” notions. In God’s eyes your thoughts do count as sin. Thus to even entertain the flattering of any man while married other than your husband, or the sweet words of any woman while married other than your wife, is a disgrace with a consequence which you not only bring upon your own life but upon those who partake in it with you. It is thus imperative to always draw the lines and make them clearly know so as not to lead others into a sin they do not know of.  Believer, we are called to be holy and reflect holiness in every section of our lives, while making sure we do not lead others astray (1Peter 1:16, Leviticus 19:2). Therefore for those who are single respect the boundaries of the marriage covenant and do not simply excuse your desire to flirt or to go beyond that with “it’s not like they don’t want it if their marriage was not broken then they wouldn’t agree”.  To those who have entered into this covenant with God uphold it even when you are the one who is receiving the advances.

In essence the ring is more than just a ring to decorate the finger, but a covenant with God through Christ and those who wear them should hold that standard to high degree. Although there may be many lines society may create to make you believe certain behaviors are harmless and may even be acceptable at best, however the only standards which should be held are the ones we find written in the word rather than the ones seen on a tv screen. In all things honor God, through Christ seeking the clarification through the Holy Spirit.

Something old, something new

When I read through the Old Testaments, one of the themes which I pick up is the life lessons and actual relevant examples for a believer. Many seem to believe that the Bible, specifically the Old Testament is outdated and irrelevant. If that is your view on the subject, it could be that you are reading it either studying the word with the incorrect perspective or are not completely allowing the Holy Spirit to be who is revealing the scripture to you; and you thus fail to see how can the lives of those who have passed over thousands of years ago can have any substance to a modern day world.

In the Book of Genesis 12, we see God ask a man to leave the country of his birth and follow God to a place he has never been to and all that he has to hold onto is a promise that one day God would bless him, make him a great nation and in turn make him a blessing. Now that in itself has significance to any modern day believer, as we too are at times confronted with God making us a promise and calling us into new territories; be they literal shifts of territory, emotional or even spiritual. At some point or the other God will require of us to move from a place of comfort and security to follow Him and His will for our lives in order to be able to possess that blessing He wants to bring forth into our lives, and to the lives of others through our submission to Him. In essence the call of Abram alone is relevance at its core. The question is however: “Do we want to remain where we are in our father’s land and country of our birth where we have the security and structure?” “Or do will we follow God’s call to places unknown and hold onto His promise in order to one day find that He would have not just simply changed our lives and blessed us, but changed our very name from Abram to become Abraham?

The next segments as God leads will be focused on the relevance of something old in an age of something new. Where you can question your life and see where God can, is trying and will take your life if we will only submit to His call and will.  

The summation

There is a lot to reflect on after the analysis of 1 Corinthians 13, but as I was reading through it and writing on it I established that the true connection/ bond through each love quality/principle in love is God. Many a time people depict God to be this Creator who has nothing better to do with His time but look out for our flaws and mistakes, which could be nothing further from who God truly is. For me, during my period of drifting and being stubborn, He was that Father who looked out for me, repeatedly and patiently waiting on the day that I would look back at Him and notice that He was right there next to me through all the anguish I was eagerly walking into. He was the Father who would be grieved at my choices, would be torn at the unforeseen peril I was entering into. He however would love me enough to endure the blatant rebellion and be patient enough not to say: “fine you choose to reject Me, off to hell you go...” and simply conclude my story with that. I would be a hypocrite if I were to say that God was not faithful to me in my sin, because He was faithful, every second of each provoking moment He was faithful to me. This is why I know His love is perfect, because I can honestly say that I would never be able to stomach watching someone I loved get up each morning to go and share the love that they were meant to give to me and simply watch, wait patiently for them to realize that they were not just hurting me but themselves. That is what God did for me, for several years He sat back and watched me choose one error after the next over Him, His love and His healing, while I would validate my actions and blame Him for the misery I was in. Now that is true love right there, because after all my choices, He still called me Redeemed and still chose to use my life; that is just how much a human soul means to the Father. We are not just His image, but a part of Him and our daily rejection grieves Him, yet He is waiting for us to just call on Him and He will cleanse us completely and hold no grudges against us, that is the kind of Father He is.  Yonder all that, He is eager to just transfer out that identical love He possess in Him into our hearts so that we will be able to love others just as purely, wholly and selflessly as He does, because He wants us to shine out to the world who He is.  That is a God that is patient, kind, forgiving, protective, faithful and willing to die for us. Now if we could just lean on Him each day through every challenging stage in our relations with those around us, image just how many lives would be forever changed and how our own lives would be in turn changed.

This is my personal summation of what God has placed in my heart concerning His enduring and unwavering love for the world spoken through 1 Corinthian 13.

The truth of love

This final section of the qualities of love will cover the remaining verses of the chapter opening with verse 6. Dependent on the version used it says that love does not rejoice in inequity/ wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth.  Now the word inequity can translate into several things and imply various things to different individuals; but taking it in the content of love and relationships, I would think that it would cover your conduct towards another. The reason why I would see it that way is that occasionally people have the tendency of receiving pleasure in seeing somebody get what was coming to them, an example of that would be deliberately doing something to spite another person as a means of getting attention, making them jealous or whatever reason it may be, which not healthy for any kind of relationship. In some cases in a group of friends, family or work environment where an select group ill-treats others or find enjoyment in ridiculing or breaking down some else and then you seal all of that with: “I have nothing but love for you, you do know that?” type of excuse. This is essentially not love, or at least does not fall under the classification of virtuous and healthy love, which will cultivate moral fruits and structure for someone. True love within companionships in any form do not comprise of people finding pleasure in the discomfort, defeat or humiliation of another; give it any title you want and sugar coat it if you may, nevertheless there is no respectable and healthy love behind that kind of conduct.

When the intention is to correct another and address something in “the spirit of truth”; that will involve you following the biblical guidelines of addressing a fellow believer outlined by Jesus in Matthew 18:15-20 and Galatians 6:1. Scripture states that you are to speak to that individual first before you start involving other people, but at no point whatsoever is your aim to find joy in their shame and most of all it need be done in gentleness and love. This once again goes back to what is motivating you and if God is the one leading you, because if it is the Holy Spirit of God , the correction is meant to bring about correction and spiritual edification. Therefore the way in which you address matters, how you treat people and what you entertain concerning others will make the difference.

The next verse says “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” This is once again us not addressing abuse in any form, be it from co-worker, spouse, family and friends. I believe that there are some conducts which are vicious and destructive; though we need to demonstrate kindness towards others however if people refuse to change their toxic behaviors, there is no sin in removing yourself from such people and situations, simply love them from a distance. The reason being that scripture has addressed this on several verses concerning  just how contaminating  these qualities can be and prove to be stumbling block for your own spiritual walk ( 2Thessalonians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 13:20, 1 Corinthians 5:11, Proverbs 14:7, Psalm 26:4-5, Proverbs 22: 24-25, to list a few). Now back to the verse in question, this address a quality of love that could be experienced mostly in a marriage or in some close friendship and family relationships where you can be pushed to your limits, but you need to be able to ask God to assist you in moving past the hurts, the difficulties faced as there will be the challenging times and moments when you have to even ask ‘is this still worth it”? Where you feel like these people in your life just do not appreciate you and you may also feel as though they have changed, you feel estranged from them and loving them feels like a lonely place. It is in these moments when you need to cry unto God the most and ask Him to shower that spiritual love in your heart, especially when you are endeavoring to minister to someone whom God has required you to reach out to and they appear to be simply rejecting you, or your child is simply mastering the art of disrespecting you; you need God’s love to be able to endure that season in your lives. As that is where you will find your well of Hope to drink from and you will thus find that you were able to bear what you would have never been capable of enduring through your own strength. There will be fights, disappointment and many moments where you feel you are the prey and the others are the villains, when in actuality there are two sides to a story and you are more inclined to read the version where you are that the saint. However, if you grew up in a household with siblings, had friends, spent time with relatives, attended church, had kids and have been married, you will know that all these relationships take strain at some point or the other even parent-child relationships have their moments of strain and tension; all relationships take strain , have their occasions of disappointments and impose you to question the relationship and love as a whole. That does not however mean you should go live in an island by your lonesome self, you need to strive to get past these moments, in love. If you choose to nurture the pain rather than the love, you stand to lose out, and the time lost and moments down the drain is something you will never gain back. Each day, you need to decide, will I allow God to lead me in loving others or will I lead myself and loose others.

Then ultimately all these verses are sealed by “Love never fails…” which is a beautiful synopsis of love, when it is experienced in a biblical and healthy way. This is the truth, just as the love of God for us through the sacrifice of Christ was able to defeat death, thus when we ask God to allow that very identical love to be in us, we too will not fail at loving those around us. Then ultimately as verse 8 says that all spiritual gifts may fail to be effective, but when the love of God in us through Christ pushes us, we would do more than the minim. You could say that the spiritual gift is a car, you can go only so far and do so much with the car on its own, but when the fuel of God is added, you will be able to do so much more with that car and go further.

Then I will end of with verse 13 which cements that chapter by stating that love is the greatest out of all these gifts. So remember, love through Jesus Christ.

Another lesson in love

This will be a further exploration of 1 Corinthians 13, continuing from verse 5. The verse speaks of the following love qualities:  

·        not rude

·        seeketh not her own way

·        not easily provoked

·        thinketh no evil

As I have previously stated, the love of God is about bringing forth the best in us and for us, therefore a rude assertiveness and behavior would be contrary to this. The way I view it is that when someone is rude towards you that is an indication of a lack of respect, as they are unhesitatingly informing you through word or act that “I think less of you” or “I do not care much for you”. So when this is how you are acting towards someone be it for any reason, it shines a bad light towards them. For even if you are angry with someone, you need to try to show adequate respect from a place of love to express your annoyance of something without being disrespectful and ill-mannered. This is of course challenging at times particularly when you feel that the person is deserving of it and that they honestly deserve whatsoever attitude you offer them. Nonetheless that is where the greater mission of being a follower of Christ comes in. We ought not to give people what we deem is a merited attitude and reaction; we are to, however to ask God to help us counter their behavior and confrontations. Easier said than done, I am still a work in the hands of my Lord on this section of love.

This then pours onto the next quality of love which is not being self-seeking. This as I perceive it, is an extension of the former statement because if you seek the spiritual enrichment of the other rather than dishing out the pain and irritation caused by that person, you are leaning more to love rather than vengeance. It’s hard at times, especially in a world where we are constantly submerged with phrases such as “getting even”, “do you”, and so forth. Learning to drown out all that and allow God to speak becomes near impossible, especially when you feel mistreated. The natural thing to do is get your own retribution and put yourself first. I cannot begin to express how this is unhealthy on so numerous levels; the reason being that if your only focus is you and what is best for you all the time, where does the body of Christ come in? Where does God fit into your ideal strategy of putting yourself first and stuff the world approach? I know this is testing particularly when you have been confronted with betrayal after betrayal, have been used by people and taken for granted; that happens, I have experienced it and becoming like the rest of the world is seductive and feels so much more easier than turning the other cheek (Mathew 5: 39). (It is like, “Jesus forgive me, but I am through being a doormat, it hurts having people walk all over you and you have to smile and bless them). It is hard, I know; that is why we are called not to do it through our own strength and heart, but through the heart of Christ (Philippians 4:13). This will thus help us be in line with what He wants for our lives rather than what we feel we are owed by the world. Being motivated by hurt, agony, resentment, all these negative self-preservation  sentiments and beliefs, is not why were created; it transforms us and poisons us to become people we end up not being able to live with, or at least that is the result with me. Life is not about just making yourself happy, and doing what is best for you; you need to do what God requires you to do. He sees the larger picture and His objective is to ultimately do what is best for you and give you what will bring you the most peace (Jeremiah 29:11), if we simply absorb Him and faithfully shadow Him, we will be where we never dreamed He could take us. Step one to that; seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), not easy especially when what you want appears to be everything you will need or will at least give you the much needed justice you feel is worth losing it all for. However, when it comes to dealing with others not sometimes, self-seeking and self-gratification should not be your compass.

The next point in this love is not being easily provoked, now this is another challenge for those who are short-tempered. The way I choose to see this is, if I were the one failing at a certain intention, or situation or weakness; would I not want to be encountered with patience and understanding? Funny really, because the first description of love is patience, which is one thing I would also want for people to express when dealing with my many annoying habits. I get it, I am a parent and sometimes you are tired, drained, the kids are screaming and the last thing you need is for someone to just step on your toes, you will want to snap; but with God you will find all that appear to be nothing. You will scream and shout at someone, and then what? You yelled and wounded someone in the process, was it really worth it? You will now need to be faced with having to apologize and mend a relationship when it could have been avoided with you leaving the situation and praying, God says that we need to frequently pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So it all boils down to, is breaking my child’s spirit or the heart of my spouse and offending those around me worth getting the anger out of my system? Will an apology truly erase the words spoken or actions committed in a moment of gratified anger? It just never is worth it, as much as anger in itself is not a sin, but the way we behave and where we permit that rage to take us could be the sin we commit against other and when hurting someone rather than building them is involved, it is never worth loosing yourself for nor degrading yourself for. How wonderful scripture works, from anger to evil thoughts. We all know that in scripture to simply think of something is equivalent to having had committed that act (Matthew 5:28). So to simply say, I will not speak what is in my mind in my rage and just have this argument in my head, is as though you had done it, with the exception that the other person was not hurt by the words. This is why we need to bring the hurt, our thoughts to the cross and just surrender them to God so as to avoid loving someone and giving them an evil eye, while desiring they would get wounded or destroyed. That may lead to it developing into your way of thought and plant a seed of hatred inside you thus contaminating the love God was seeking to create in you. It is not easy, but that's why we go to God through Christ and allow Him to take over.

 

In all things, seek His love in our hearts and lives rather than our own bitter thoughts of what we feel is justifiable.

1 Corinthians 13

In my previous post I spoke about the importance of having the love of God through Christ be are only motivation for all we do, thus owning that perfect and pure love for others. Now what is that love and what does that love truly demand? I will base all I am about to say on the scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to lead me in love as I begin to examine the chapter further.

In verses four, the verse makes reference of the following descriptive qualities of this love:

·        Patience

·        kindness

·        void of envy

·        void of boasting

·        and void or arrogance

Now taking note of the first quality dependent on the version you may be reading, patient love, long suffering kind of love; it reflects a quality we as humans, myself included lack at times. Now the quality of the good and positive long suffering love is not the one where you are in an abusive relationship where your soul and body are constantly being destroyed. I do not believe that is the kind of long suffering the scripture is referring to, because all things in the body of Christ are meant to produce the fruits which are to aid us to become the people God intended for us to be and not destroy within us the people God is making us become each day through our walk with Him. That patience and long suffering love expressed here, I believe is the kind where you understand that the people around you are just like you, flawed and imperfect on their own and are a canvas God is still working through in order to create the image of Him in them. So, keeping that in mind we understand that they will not always get it right and may fail us at times and we need that patient quality of love to not give up on a soul.

 After becoming a parent myself I found myself over the years developing this love, in understanding that kids are a precious human form of a spiritual test. The reason being that children will surely test your patience and at times you need to be soaked in God enough to say: “God please allow me to handle this situation in faith rather than irritation”. As kids develop and explore you need to repeat yourself, constantly and with love, because they are not just your kids, but kids of the Lord and as we direct and correct them we need to remember not to break and destroy them. Now that would require a huge portion of God given patience, especially when you have not slept and are at the point of breakage. There are a lot of examples of how this patient kind of love can be expressed in a healthy way in our daily lives towards our spouses, families, children, co-workers friends and strangers; especially towards those we do not know and are getting better acquainted to. This in perfect biblical sequence then leads directly to the next quality of love which is kindness; now kindness for me is like that sprinkle of water upon a dry and thirsty ground, which the souls of mankind usually are. We can sometimes go through life, bouncing from trail to trail and that compassion coming from love can be that little light that someone needs in order to break through a dark point in their life. Now in my own personal life I have had those moments, which my life was a desert and my soul a dry land, where I can attest that kindness in the form of words, action in love can be that drop one needs to get up and battle death. We can express this quality by simply smiling in love at a person and make them feel the love of God in us and thus give them courage. This is an important love quality needed by babies to grannies; everybody needs that gentleness and silent quality of love found within kindness.

 The next qualities of love stated in the verse are not being envious, boastful and arrogant. Having begun the verse by expressing patience and kindness it exposes qualities which are undesirable and we sometimes possess as part of our human nature.  When the scripture mentions not being envious I believe that it is talking about the coveting kind of envy where you want the praise and the attention, and refuse to allow or want someone else to prosper (and not the envy where God says: “I am a jealous God…” found in Exodus 20:5, where God is speaking about having no other gods.). Now I believe that when you love someone and that love is good and healthy, you rejoice when they excel in life especially in Christ. Now if envy starts to creep in there and you start wishing and wanting specific blessing God has blessed someone else with to be yours, that right there is a praying moment for God’s good and perfect love is not at work. That right there is a self-introspection moment because you are losing focus and not loving as you should; because we need to be feeling and articulating emotions which are not of a dark nature which revolve around us. The other red flag of “Am I walking in love?” moments, will be the boasting, now there is nothing wrong in being joyful for an achievement, but there is that thin line where you are sticking it to a person, for a lack of a word. This is a terrible quality because your intentions behind it are not the glory of God, where you seek to express “this is what God has done for me”, rather than “look at me, and look at you”, kind of negative atmosphere. We are to express love and shine off so much of it that even in our development is about God and not making others feel less human, less loved and less accomplished. I feel that is the thin line between being boastful and arrogant, and expressing gratitude to God for all He has done in your life. The one is: “look at me, my life is better than yours.”, while the other is: “Look at what God has done and is doing  in my life, and imagine what He can do for yours”. Knowing the difference and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in love will be the difference between good and healthy love towards others, and simply expressing the dark qualities of love.

Let the Love of God through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit set the standard.

The greatest gift

One of the most common verses with regards to love is 1 Corinthians 13. For me, it is comprised of all the key components of moral love and highlights God’s personal love for us. I believe that it is this description of love we should aim for daily, both in providing and receiving it. If our new objective was to alter our standards and adjust them to fit those of God when it came to what we accepted and allowed into our lives, what a transformation our lives would experience and danger would our hearts avoid.

So if we are to change the standard and allow God to be who sets it for us, basing it purely  on this scripture alone; could we truly say that we have truly loved another and that we have truly been loved by another? This would fall under personal thoughts and views; but take the romance away, while you are at it remove all the fairy fictions, Disney notions and Hollywood outlines. Now can we truly say I have had the godly and healthy kind of love in my life? Let us allow scripture and not media be what concludes that for us.

So, the chapter starts off by making mention of the ability of speaking in angelic tongues, which is a spiritual gift in Christ, so it could be safe to conclude that one has given their life to God. However that step is no guarantee that they will have the capacity to truly love (in our own personal strength). As much as this is a gift from God through Christ and the Holy Spirit in us, but when there is no love behind a gift, the gift in itself loses it very heart. Thus though one may be a born again believer, (not to judge the walk of anyone), nonetheless if you are a born again believer in Christ yet fail to love others, what does that truly reflect about your walk? Not at all to imply that one is not entitled to be wounded and enraged by people, but the fruits of love towards others should be the core fruits in your walk.

Then the scripture then proceeded to speak about other vital gifts within the body of Christ, which are the gifts of prophesy and faith, which we all know have played and are some of the corner stones of our daily walk. However the scripture declares that we are nothing barren of love, once again attesting that it is love which sets us apart as believers in Christ. It is our love for each other, and our love for others who are not part of the body of Christ which reflects our faith. For if you truly reflect on it, how can you truly minister to others and call them to Christ if you cannot love them? How will you then be able to wept with those in anguish and comfort those that mourn; if you are unable to bring your soul to love them enough to make their pain yours and be affected by their condition. In our walk and in ministry, you need to have a love for those around you; otherwise each gift that God gives you will mean nothing and fail to be as effective as it ought to be.

While keeping in mind that our motivation ought not to be admiration, money, nor pride; but loving someone so much that we unable to watch them agonize. In essence, our gifts should be led by the love God gives us.  For, scripture states that though we may do every work and have the exterior of a devout heart, charitable towards the deprived, even becoming a martyr for the kingdom of God, but the motivation behind it was not love then it was altogether in futile.

Something to reflect on in our daily walk; am I being directed by the unchanged love that compelled our God, to surrender His Only Son, for a world occupied with sinners who would continuously discard Him through deed and word, spitting at His actual sacrifice? Is that the love within me and is it that love which took my place that guides me through all I accomplish for others? Do I truly echo the love of God to those around me?

The love of my life

I  have made far too many choices in my life which disqualified me of the rights and the privilege of being called His. Yet, God, knowing my story, knowing my past and having lived through the blunt rejection I gave Him... He chooses to not just love me, but elevate me and forgive me. Taking not just the sin away but taking my death and giving me life.

Now I have lived long enough and gone through enough in this life to be certain that: not every love is unconditional and even when it is, it by no guarantees that your best interest will always be at the forefront. That sometimes even when you love someone as though they were tied to your very soul, that love may not be the love which will bring you to where you should be. Then there is the addictive kind of love, where you eat, sleep and breath at the thought of another; then the possessive love. In essence, there are many kinds of love.

However the true underlining truth for me in this life is that no matter what kind of love that comes and goes from my life; embraces and shatters my heart, the love I have known in God and through Christ is not only the truest, most enduring, faithful and purest of loves, but is the perfect love. Thus it is through this love I begin this passage.