What love looks like in action
Daily Scripture
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
13 Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Yesterday we read the apostle Paul telling the Corinthians that using even God-given abilities without love made them pointless (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3). He went on, in today’s reading, to define what he meant by “love.” Does this sound “weak,” less effective than bluntly criticizing and tearing down “wrong” ideas or people? Consider what Bishop Michael Curry (who preached at Resurrection in October 2020) wrote. “Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in all of human history; a movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world; a movement mandating people to live that love, and in so doing to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself. I’m talking about power. Real power. Power to change the world.” * You can’t expect to truly change the world by using the world’s hurtful methods. 1 Corinthians 13 described the essence of Jesus’ model of agapē. Let God guide you in living that out in the ways you treat people.
- In which (if any) of your day-to-day relationships are you able to readily and easily live out most of the qualities of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7? How are those qualities essential to achieving a more truly just world? How can God’s love help you to grow in your capacity to love more fully? Paul also said love does not boast and is not self-seeking. Have you ever wished that other people would envy something about you or your life? Might a desire to produce envy in others ever tempt you to boast? As you compare Jesus’ positive impact on our world over the last 2,000 years with the sad legacy of all the violent, self-serving tyrants who’ve tried to build empires, can you more clearly understand Bishop Curry’s words about love’s “power to change the world”?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, keep me clear about my daily need for your empowering grace to nurture and grow me. And grow me into a person who makes forgiving and loving the world-changing rhythm of my life. Amen.
GPS Insights
Charles R. Thiel
Charles R. Thiel, a student at Shawnee Mission South High school, wrote today's Insights blog. He participates in cross country and track, in addition to speech and debate. He loves photography and nature. He says, "I attend church as much as I can, but sometimes Scouting events get in the way."
Love is the great foundation on which we as Christians should lay our focus. We are both called to love like Him, and to love for him.
Jesus our Lord loved in all that he did, and we should do likewise. He gave his life for our salvation so that we may love like him. We are to love to the greatest extent we can. For we have nothing to fear. Not even the grave could bind our king, so what do we have to fear? No chain may bind us for our covenant is eternal by his grace.
We are called to worship the Most High in all we do. The way we can achieve this is by loving and “worshiping” (Lifting up/loving) his children. In the Psalms when David asks for forgiveness for his acts against man, he equates them to acts against God. In this we all as his followers are to love as if all are him in flesh.
We are all called in this message and beyond to, “Lead with love,” and let the power of the Most High guide us to do great things.
I thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts on the principle of love in action.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Curry, Bishop Michael. The Power of Love (pp. 9-10). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
