Chapter
Eight
Love is
decision not a feeling.
“4 ¶
Love suffers long and is
kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks
no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in
the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things. 8
¶ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail;
whether there are tongues, they
will cease; whether there is
knowledge, it will vanish away.” (1Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV)
Love is
usually seen as an emotional or physical attraction or attachment between two
people. I remember this young couple who
went through pre-marital counseling with me.
Both of their families didn’t want them to get married. At the least they wanted them to wait a
little while. I usually ask for each
person in a couple to tell me three reasons why they want to marry the other
person and one of the reasons cannot be that they love the other and they can’t
use the same answers.
As they
struggled to come up with even one reason the girl finally gushed, “Because I
get this feeling in my stomach whenever he is around.” My response was to wonder if maybe she was
just allergic to him.
In 1
Corinthians 13 we have some of the most beautiful writing in all of human
time. Love is defined and shown how it
looks as it is lived out. For LOVE CAN
BE SEEN! Love is not an emotion to be felt
but a decision we make at a point in our lives and lived out every day.
I choose
to love someone. This is not because
they are super good looking or because they will make be a better person. The first is lust and the second is
self-centered. I choose to love someone
because I realize that while I need them they also need me. There are ways I can make them a better
person. Indeed without me they are
incomplete just as I am without them.
“26 ¶ Then
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth." 27 So God
created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis
1:26-27 NKJV)
Notice the language.
Let us make man in our image = the Triune God
is expressed in man
Let them = man is more than just one, like
God man is a plural
God created man in His own image = the desire
came to fruit
In the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them= okay this really doesn’t make sense! He created him; male and female He created
them! But it does! For Man is not male or female! Man is the combination and union of a male
and a female! Only truly joined together
can Man be the image of God. Only
together can they find union and learn how to live as one though of more than
one. Only together can Man created life
as part of the image of God!
The WOW factor
I realize I am starting to get closer to
understanding God when the WOW factor kicks in!
Is this not amazing?
Action
Notice the
description Paul gives of love. And remember
that this letter is written to a divisive, carnal and very unchristian group of
Christians!
Love suffers
long is
kind does not envy does not parade itself
is
not puffed up does not behave
rudely does not seek its own
is
not provoked thinks no evil does
not rejoice in iniquity
rejoices
in the truth bears all things believes all things hopes all things,
endures
all things Love never fails.
WOW! You would have to be
super-human to do this! Why you would
almost have to be God! Getting it
yet? Love is a decision by us to act in
a Godly manner toward someone and this decision causes us to depend upon God
which strengthens our love for God! Did
I just hear a WOW?
Is this why Jesus always ties our love for others with our love
for God?
How do you get the help from God to live this way?
Did (and does) Jesus love you in this way? (Not a yes or no question.)
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