Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
How important is the word LOVE, in all its significance, in your life? Can you even imagine if LOVE was drained OUT of every relationship you have? What if LOVE was removed from every conversation; eliminated from everything you read or hear? What would a LOVEless world be like? Oh my!
We’re in Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth, chapter 13. Yesterday we looked at the first sentence, so let’s pick it up there today. “If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have great faith that can move mountains, but I do not have LOVE, I am NOTHING!” (1 Cor. 13:2) What? Doesn’t the book of Proverbs elevate WISDOM above all else? Well, yes, King Solomon does elevate wisdom to a place of supremacy and Solomon declares God style wisdom begins with “the fear of the LORD.” (Proverbs 9:10)
And throughout the Bible isn’t FAITH in God a cornerstone to the foundation of the relationship God wants with all human beings? (Hebrews 11:1,6) Oh YES! But wisdom without LOVE turns prideful, arrogant, controlling and demanding of others. And faith without love can easily become legalistic, performance based, emotionless risk management. Not at all what God has designed either for wisdom or faith, leaving a person hopeless.
Paul continued writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but I do not have LOVE, I gain nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2) Generosity without love is demeaning, heartless and shames the recipient. Rather than awakening hope and dreams for pursuing a path out of poverty, generosity without love shackles the poor in humiliating dependance, almost bondage. Service and self-sacrifice without love breeds resentment and bitterness.
Can we see my friends, how any and every human effort, if devoid of LOVE, becomes a burden and has the potential to enslave us in self-pity, hopelessness and despair. On the contrary, Jesus, only a few hours before going to the cross, said to His disciples: “I give you a new command: LOVE one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are My disciples, if you love one another…” (John 13:34,35)
In the months leading up to that moment His disciples had watched Jesus love every imaginable type of person with the unconditional love of God. They’d watch Jesus refuse to retaliate against those who sought to do Him harm. But in His suffering, crucifixion and death, Jesus modeled for them and our world, a love unlike anything anyone had ever seen or experienced!
Jesus then continued that evening in the upper room with these words: “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete… Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command…” (John 15:11-14) God has designed us with a remarkable ability to recognize and receive LOVE, and as we do, it awakens in us the most powerful emotion known to mankind, motivating us to do the unthinkable in extreme love, even to the point of risking loss of life, to love and serve a friend.
Paul had personally experienced this radical, outrageous, unconditional, unlimited LOVE of Jesus, during his unexpected encounter with the risen Jesus Christ on his journey to Damascus. In his raging anger Paul intended to arrest and persecute any followers of Jesus who refused to deny Jesus. (Acts 9:1-19)
Blinded by the power of Jesus, Paul heard the audible voice of Jesus and experienced not judgment or condemnation, but love and invitation to follow Jesus and become an ambassador of Jesus to the Roman empire! Paul’s life was dramatically changed by the love of God and the transforming power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, as formerly angry Paul wrote about LOVE, he was doing so out of personal experience and his words challenge us 2000 years later, to look closely at what the love we live is really like.
I think we would benefit from pausing right here and reflecting on the love we see all around us and in our own lives. What did you understand about LOVE in your childhood home? Where in your adult journey has LOVE been honorable and helpful? But have you also experienced manipulative love, conditional love, even wounding love? When we think about the love you see that Jesus lived, how are you and I living that type of love in our world today?
The ‘lessons learned’ notes will be very helpful to us as we pause to give serious consideration to the Scriptures we’ve considered today. Of course, a wonderful worship song will draw your heart to God’s love and let’s come right back here tomorrow for the most famous part of 1 Corinthians 13.