A Better Way to Live…
With all going on in our world at the moment, and with all I'm seeing on social media (including the way Christians are relating to one another), I really believe that now is a great time to soak in the passage of 1 Corinthians 13:
If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God’s hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing. And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr, without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing of value. Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Love never stops loving. It extends beyond the gift of prophecy, which eventually fades away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains long after words of knowledge are forgotten. Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial, but when love’s perfection arrives, the partial will fade away. When I was a child, I spoke about childish matters, for I saw things like a child and reasoned like a child. But the day came when I matured, and I set aside my childish ways. For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood. Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.
The Bible also talks about the fact that we cannot defeat strongholds with hate. Our weapons that we fight with are not worldly weapons. They are spiritual weapons that have the ability to disarm any attack of the (spiritual) enemy. Life in the Kingdom is completely upside down. Much of what we see in the world is the complete opposite in the Kingdom. For example, want to be the greatest? Then be a servant.
It is time that we as Christians realise this, and truly love one another, and the world around us, so that His light shines through us and truly makes a difference in these dark times. Even when we speak truth that is uncomfortable, if LOVE the way Christ loves is not the goal and the pursuit, then we are missing the Kingdom. If we don't grasp this, then we are missing the most basic fundamental truth of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
I don't know about you, but I want to be someone that loves the way that 1 Corinthians 13 describes. I am far from perfect at it, but as someone who is in Christ, I have already been given all that I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). So today, I am renewing that desire, and receiving that empowerment from the Holy Spirit. Will you join me?