Okay, so we've seen that love is essential. No matter what "good" we may think we have accomplished, if it is not motivated by love, it is worse than useless. Seeing that, we've looked at what the Bible considers genuine love (as opposed to what our world thinks is love). It will likely produce the feelings we've come to associate with the concept of love, but these feelings don't define love. Instead, love is a choice we make to seek the best for the other, look always in that direction, and stand always for that aim.
So, what about all that good stuff? What about the ability to tell God's truth or the special gift of speaking foreign languages or having that special keen insight? The fact is that all this "stuff" that we consider important today will eventually end. It's temporal, temporary, impermanent. It's on its way out. The best we can do these days is to imperfectly prophesy and partially know. But the day is coming when that goes away and the perfect and complete replaces it. So why get so wrapped up in it?
We're like children. We think we're pretty smart, pretty eloquent, pretty reasonable. But when a child grows up and looks back, he finds he was ... childish. Well, we're still childish. We see things, perhaps, but we see them dimly. It's like trying to comb your hair with a steamed up mirror. We know we're in there ... but we're just not clear where. No, the day is coming when we will know the truth and we will be face to face with God. Today we know partial truth; then we'll know the full truth. Today we know God somewhat; then we'll know Him fully, like He has known us.
There are lots of "good" things in this world. There are spiritual gifts and moral activities and all. Just keep in mind that this world is temporary. Don't get so tied up in the temporary that you miss the things that last. What lasts? Well, faith is lasting and hope goes on and love just keeps going and going better than any Energizer bunny (never fails, remember?). Given that love is the proper basis for all that we do, it must be that love is the most important of these. That, therefore, should be our aim, our goal, our primary attention. And not that silly, man-made version. No, biblical love. It's big, it's lasting, and it's essential. So, what are you waiting for?
Showing posts with label 1 Corinthians 13. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1 Corinthians 13. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Since love is the singularly necessary basis for Christian morality, we need to know what that is. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a gives a depiction of the biblical concept of love.
Love has a huge capacity to endure patiently. It is a "slow burn fuse", a bearing of offenses and injuries without retaliation. Instead of vengeance, love seeks to be kind. In this it is virtuous and benevolent, always seeking to be useful rather than using, beneficial rather than benefited, pleasant and mild rather than heard.
Love may have zeal, but one thing it has no zeal for is the desire to possess. It doesn't wish it had what others had. It doesn't envy others their good fortune. It doesn't covet. Love, instead, is content. Nor is love boastful. One who loves doesn't put himself on display. No, when you love, you put the loved one on display. The primary concern is the well-being of the one who is loved. The one who loves is not the primary issue nor the focus.
Love is not arrogant. The one who loves doesn't present himself or herself as something worthy of attention. It is not lofty or proud. It's not full of hot air. Instead, love knows how to behave. Love isn't rude or inappropriate. It isn't indecent. No, in fact it is presentable, appropriate, respectful, even polite.
Love has an unusual aim. While the most natural human characteristic is self-interest, love does not seek that. Instead, love aims for the interest of others. In this, then, love is perhaps one of the most foreign concepts to Natural Man. Self-interest is secondary in love. It considers the one loved as more important than the one who loves and the best interest of the loved one is the primary aim of love.
Love is not irritable or resentful. No, that's too mild. Love is not scornful or easily provoked or prone to exasperation. (Remember that patient endurance.) And being not easily upset, love doesn't keep score. Everyone suffers loss at the hands of others. Love, however, doesn't keep a record book. It lets those losses go. It doesn't track debits, so to speak. There is no reckoning of the bad things that have been done to the one who loves. Those just don't count.
Love includes the concept of joy. Love makes you happy. Be careful, though. Love doesn't make you rejoice at just anything. Love thrives on truth. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love shouts hallelujah to good doctrine, good morality, a proper reflection of reality, to all things true. At the same time, love has the opposite response to sin, to injustice, to unrighteousness of heart and life, to violations of God's law. Love doesn't support evil, but rejoices in truth.
Love holds up some tremendous "alls". Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. In bearing all things, love provides a covering, a protection. It is like a good roof, concealing the loved one from errors, faults, trouble. On the other hand, love stands up to perceived slights, unkindnesses, unpleasantry aimed at the one who loves. Love believes the best of the loved one. It believes the best even against the evidence. It believes the best even against much evidence. Love stands with joyful confidence and expectation for the best for the loved one. Even when spurned, love keeps coming back seeking what's best for the one who is loved. And love stands. It stands patiently. It stands bravely. It stands calmly. It stands as it covers and protects, stands as it believes the best even when it may be hard, stands when things look hopeless. It endures all of the worst in search of all of the best.
Perhaps the most lost component of love today is its endurance. Love never ends. It doesn't cease. It doesn't perish. It doesn't fall away. It cannot be cast off or run aground. It cannot be powerless or ineffectual. It never fails.
I want you to notice something in this descriptive pile. Notice that there is nothing in this explanation that suggests "Love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. Love is often sexual passion or desire." That's what our dictionaries tell us. That's not what this passage tells us. Now, let me be clear. I am not suggesting that tenderness, affection, warm personal attachment, or possibly even sexual passion are not or cannot be a natural by-product of love. By that I mean that genuine love ought to produce some of this. Nonetheless, none of it is "love", which means that none of it is the proper definition of love from a biblical perspective. Since we are commanded to love, love is a choice we make. The feelings associated with love will likely follow the choice to love, but love, as defined here, is something we choose regardless of feelings. Conversely, that which we do out of warm feelings may or may not be love. Let's not get confused.
Love has a huge capacity to endure patiently. It is a "slow burn fuse", a bearing of offenses and injuries without retaliation. Instead of vengeance, love seeks to be kind. In this it is virtuous and benevolent, always seeking to be useful rather than using, beneficial rather than benefited, pleasant and mild rather than heard.
Love may have zeal, but one thing it has no zeal for is the desire to possess. It doesn't wish it had what others had. It doesn't envy others their good fortune. It doesn't covet. Love, instead, is content. Nor is love boastful. One who loves doesn't put himself on display. No, when you love, you put the loved one on display. The primary concern is the well-being of the one who is loved. The one who loves is not the primary issue nor the focus.
Love is not arrogant. The one who loves doesn't present himself or herself as something worthy of attention. It is not lofty or proud. It's not full of hot air. Instead, love knows how to behave. Love isn't rude or inappropriate. It isn't indecent. No, in fact it is presentable, appropriate, respectful, even polite.
Love has an unusual aim. While the most natural human characteristic is self-interest, love does not seek that. Instead, love aims for the interest of others. In this, then, love is perhaps one of the most foreign concepts to Natural Man. Self-interest is secondary in love. It considers the one loved as more important than the one who loves and the best interest of the loved one is the primary aim of love.
Love is not irritable or resentful. No, that's too mild. Love is not scornful or easily provoked or prone to exasperation. (Remember that patient endurance.) And being not easily upset, love doesn't keep score. Everyone suffers loss at the hands of others. Love, however, doesn't keep a record book. It lets those losses go. It doesn't track debits, so to speak. There is no reckoning of the bad things that have been done to the one who loves. Those just don't count.
Love includes the concept of joy. Love makes you happy. Be careful, though. Love doesn't make you rejoice at just anything. Love thrives on truth. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love shouts hallelujah to good doctrine, good morality, a proper reflection of reality, to all things true. At the same time, love has the opposite response to sin, to injustice, to unrighteousness of heart and life, to violations of God's law. Love doesn't support evil, but rejoices in truth.
Love holds up some tremendous "alls". Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. In bearing all things, love provides a covering, a protection. It is like a good roof, concealing the loved one from errors, faults, trouble. On the other hand, love stands up to perceived slights, unkindnesses, unpleasantry aimed at the one who loves. Love believes the best of the loved one. It believes the best even against the evidence. It believes the best even against much evidence. Love stands with joyful confidence and expectation for the best for the loved one. Even when spurned, love keeps coming back seeking what's best for the one who is loved. And love stands. It stands patiently. It stands bravely. It stands calmly. It stands as it covers and protects, stands as it believes the best even when it may be hard, stands when things look hopeless. It endures all of the worst in search of all of the best.
Perhaps the most lost component of love today is its endurance. Love never ends. It doesn't cease. It doesn't perish. It doesn't fall away. It cannot be cast off or run aground. It cannot be powerless or ineffectual. It never fails.
I want you to notice something in this descriptive pile. Notice that there is nothing in this explanation that suggests "Love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. Love is often sexual passion or desire." That's what our dictionaries tell us. That's not what this passage tells us. Now, let me be clear. I am not suggesting that tenderness, affection, warm personal attachment, or possibly even sexual passion are not or cannot be a natural by-product of love. By that I mean that genuine love ought to produce some of this. Nonetheless, none of it is "love", which means that none of it is the proper definition of love from a biblical perspective. Since we are commanded to love, love is a choice we make. The feelings associated with love will likely follow the choice to love, but love, as defined here, is something we choose regardless of feelings. Conversely, that which we do out of warm feelings may or may not be love. Let's not get confused.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
My friend, Danny, wrote an insightful piece about how we've managed to mess up the entire concept of love in our society today, and the ramifications of that mess. In one of his own comments in that essay he wrote, "Love must be gotten right lest we end up loving the world to death." Of course, the best source for an accurate depiction of the love that Christians are supposed to have is found in 1 Corinthians 13. So I thought I'd reexamine that passage. And I thought that perhaps I'd reexamine it by rewording it. No, this isn't Scripture; it's a paraphrase. But perhaps it will help expand my understanding ... and yours. So, here are the first three verses my way.
__________
Imagine, if you will, that I have a truly miraculous capacity for languages. I can speak any language ever spoken, whether human or otherwise. Imagine, then, that I use this capacity for all sorts of good things, with the single lack that I don't do it motivated by love. Do you know what that's called? It's called "noise". That's right. Worse than useless, it is irritating.
Imagine again that I have the brain of a demigod. I don't simply understand the normal things around us. I understand vast concepts beyond your comprehension. I can predict the future and explain mysteries that no one has figured out. I know all that stuff you don't even know you don't know. So brilliant am I that I can believe far more than you can believe. So stunning is this faith of mine that I can even do what Jesus suggested -- believe enough to move mountains. So, here I am with this tremendous mental capacity tied to this monumental faith capacity, and all I lack is love. The sum total? Nothing, zero, zip, zilch. A useless brain and a useless faith.
Here's an ever popular idea. Let's say that I'm the epitome of generosity. Surely there's nothing bad about that! The generous man is the most cherished and coveted man of all time. And I am that man. I have billions and I don't hold back. It's all out there for the sake of charity. Not only do I donate all my goods, I donate all my self. I'm daily working on volunteer tasks helping this person or that group or whomever I can find until I'm sick for lack of taking care of myself in order to give all that I have and am to others. There's just one thing I'm missing. It's the motivation of love. But, hey, that can't be all bad, right? I mean, no one is more generous than I, so what difference does it make? The difference is that this single absent component makes all that I do less than zero.
It doesn't matter who you imagine. I am the finest orator of all time, able to persuade people to great deeds. I am the best pastor you've ever heard, with a depth of knowledge and the finest skills of presentation and just the right touch of humor and application. I am your favorite politician with all the people skills and leadership ability. I'm the guy that runs the local soup kitchen for the homeless, the congressman who works hard to raise taxes on the rich so we can pay for healthcare for all, the lawyer that defends the weak and helpless against all odds and wins. But if any of this is performed without the motivation of love at its core, all of it is less than useless. It is simply noise, a net loss. All this "good" is pointless without love.
Perhaps, then, you can begin to see how important it is to find out exactly what this thing is that we call "love". I mean, if all that "good stuff" that I've described isn't, by definition, love, what is? We'd better get this straight if we're going to do anything good.
__________
Imagine, if you will, that I have a truly miraculous capacity for languages. I can speak any language ever spoken, whether human or otherwise. Imagine, then, that I use this capacity for all sorts of good things, with the single lack that I don't do it motivated by love. Do you know what that's called? It's called "noise". That's right. Worse than useless, it is irritating.
Imagine again that I have the brain of a demigod. I don't simply understand the normal things around us. I understand vast concepts beyond your comprehension. I can predict the future and explain mysteries that no one has figured out. I know all that stuff you don't even know you don't know. So brilliant am I that I can believe far more than you can believe. So stunning is this faith of mine that I can even do what Jesus suggested -- believe enough to move mountains. So, here I am with this tremendous mental capacity tied to this monumental faith capacity, and all I lack is love. The sum total? Nothing, zero, zip, zilch. A useless brain and a useless faith.
Here's an ever popular idea. Let's say that I'm the epitome of generosity. Surely there's nothing bad about that! The generous man is the most cherished and coveted man of all time. And I am that man. I have billions and I don't hold back. It's all out there for the sake of charity. Not only do I donate all my goods, I donate all my self. I'm daily working on volunteer tasks helping this person or that group or whomever I can find until I'm sick for lack of taking care of myself in order to give all that I have and am to others. There's just one thing I'm missing. It's the motivation of love. But, hey, that can't be all bad, right? I mean, no one is more generous than I, so what difference does it make? The difference is that this single absent component makes all that I do less than zero.
It doesn't matter who you imagine. I am the finest orator of all time, able to persuade people to great deeds. I am the best pastor you've ever heard, with a depth of knowledge and the finest skills of presentation and just the right touch of humor and application. I am your favorite politician with all the people skills and leadership ability. I'm the guy that runs the local soup kitchen for the homeless, the congressman who works hard to raise taxes on the rich so we can pay for healthcare for all, the lawyer that defends the weak and helpless against all odds and wins. But if any of this is performed without the motivation of love at its core, all of it is less than useless. It is simply noise, a net loss. All this "good" is pointless without love.
Perhaps, then, you can begin to see how important it is to find out exactly what this thing is that we call "love". I mean, if all that "good stuff" that I've described isn't, by definition, love, what is? We'd better get this straight if we're going to do anything good.
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