Simply because he
tells us what we want to hear, and we rarely look past that searching for truth
because the truth is, love is a lot of work. Paul does an excellent job of
analyzing love in 1 Corinthians 13.
Love translates
different languages and jumbled emotions into understanding. Speaking in
tongues of men or angels is simply clanging cymbals if one is not speaking
through love. Therefore, love is a filter which strains out the uglies.
Any kind of power
given by God Almighty to do His works such as prophecy and perception, wisdom
of mysteries, knowledge of the bible as well as sciences diminishes into wisps
of fog if one doesn’t have love as a focus or magnifier. A magnifying glass can
start a forest fire because it can focus the sun’s rays upon tinder, but it is
harmless when moved away from the fuel. Love focuses our energy fueled by God
into His work that He prepared for us before the world’s foundations were formed.
John tells us that God is love so we can understand that God has designed our
work, He also fuels us with the necessary motivations to do the work; and He
does this through love: His love for us and our love for Him. That is the
strongest bond in the universe because He has physically and spiritually
morphed us with the Holy Spirit into new creations.
Jesus spoke of
this fuel when in Samaria
after speaking to the woman at the well. His disciples came back with food and
urged Him to eat. He said, “I have food to eat which you know not.” John
4:32-42. How amazing Jesus explains this food is doing the will of God and to
finish His work. Then Jesus speaks of the fields being white for harvest. No
one loves the unlovely, but Jesus did and testified how much when He stretched
out His arms and died.
Paul tells us
that without love, our ministry and works are not worth more than a drop of
sweat which evaporates in the sun. Our works profit us nothing without love.
Love suffers
long, or rather it is patient. How parents know this as they both love and
suffer the hormonal rages of their teenage sons and daughters. We love through
the pin pricks to the heart that our young children inflict, and we love
through the sword stabs to the soul that our teenagers wield as they struggle
for independence years before their wings are dry enough to carry them to their
own homes. Love is kind, without envy or malicious revenge. It is never puffed
up.
1Co 13:5 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, 6 doesn't revel when others grovel, takes
pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7
puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best,
never looks back, but keeps going to the end. 8
Love never dies.
Is it a formula
for successful marriages? Oh, yes! And a formula for successful relationships
of all kinds, successful businesses, successful political careers, successful
CEOs and partnerships, successful leaders or all walks: businesses, churches,
governments.
Is it possible to
live lovely every second of every day for the rest of your life?
Until the flesh
is completely dead, there will always be the struggle between the flesh and the
spirit. We have the mind of Christ and we make a choice to live for Him, yet we
will always be defending against the fiery darts of Satan. We’ll slip up every
once in a while because we only know the physical side of the truth with
glimpses of the spiritual side of love because God dwells within us and God is
love, therefore our understanding increases the more we yield to Him. The way
becomes easier the more we lean upon Him.
Because we can’t
see clearly but only through a glass darkly, we must know that He is ever
faithful and will always keep us because we are forever engraved in His
palm.
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