S - 1
Corinthians 13:1-2, 4-5, 13 (NLT):
"If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love
others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging
cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the
future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good
would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain
and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. … Love is patient and kind. Love is not
jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is
not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. … things
that will endure … the greatest … is love. "
O -
Clearly tangible acts of love and relational connections are the pages we may
put the name and words of Jesus on AND be heard. The challenge comes in living out the
dynamics and limitations of love under pressure. Impatient, unkind, proud and rude are all
very easy responses to slide or jump into … especially with those who are the
closest to us. Not irritable and keeping
no record of wrongs … how many couples and families live this out? What enables love, real love as described
here, to carry and win the day? It must
be that the One who is love has empowered us to be like him. Jesus not only commands us to love he
empowers us to love. He also does not
require us to learn and live a life of love flawlessly, just blamelessly. In the Kingdom of Jesus, the Kingdom which
lasts and really matters, good to great has only one measure. It is not sharpened skills, organizational
advance, increased efficiencies nor broadened influence. The greatest of these
… of all is love.
A - I am
clearly not loving flawlessly … and do not need to agonize over this
truth. He knows how I am made and made
the way for blameless living. So, in my
world, love is NOT rewarded. It is
tolerated and even enjoyed but it is not rewarded. Production, power, performance, shoving your
way forward, making something work at most any cost is rewarded. Love is okay as long as it does not interfere
with goals and this world's measures of success. Has any Hall of Fame anything ever inducted
someone because they loved? Has corporate
office given bonuses for loving? Does
the Church reward or use those who love?
All this to say, the good to great which will matter does not matter to
the world (secular and religious). It
does matter to the Judge of all and it’s the assignment he gives me today while
it's called today. The superlatives
produce a superlative life here and hereafter … and heaven rewards those who so
live.
P - Lord
who is love,
I admit my failures, recent
and consistent, in this regard. Loving
enemies, those who hurt and reject, those who are close and those who are far
away is formidable on a good day. There
have been many not good days and the pressures of things less than love combine
to distract, dissuade and discourage.
Lord, empower my little life to make you glad and to do this according
to love … not as a performance for you but as a partnership with you … for you
LOVE the whole world. I want to give the
way I've received. Jesus, enable me to
think, speak, act and love like you.
In them,
Steve
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