As you step out today, here’s a reminder of God’s word to you from 1Corinthians 13:1-13 [MSG].
What’s your love gauge to yourself and others? What’s my love gauge to myself and others? Are we just about measuring up or falling way below the requirements? Well let’s dig into today’s Bible verses to find out!
“ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”
Today’s Bible passage in clear terms spells out what Love is and as we meditate further, we recognise what love should not be and that ultimately Love is the greatest ( we see our heavenly Father demonstrate this in John 3:16). And that trust and faith fades in comparison to Love!
Today’s Bible passage is also what I would refer to as our love mirror which as Christians we are required to look into as often as we can so that we can consciously gauge the level of our love for others and even ourselves. The beautiful thing about God’s word is that, it is not just given for us to just claim God’s promises, it is also given to us to know how to live life in a manner that honours and glorified God. The Bible, no doubt is full of wisdom for everyday living, and challenges us how to be better Christians i.e Christ ambassadors that truly represent Christ in words and in action.
The Bible not only out gives out ‘goodies’ i.e. in form of promises that gets us excited and fuels our faith, it also contains instructions on how to behave and live life. It also corrects us where we have erred and rebukes us where we might be going astray. As 2 Timothy 3:16 says that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”
Today’s Bible passage no doubt falls in the category of teaching us what is right and that is, – that Love is the greatest and that without Love everything we strive to do is ‘useless’ and totally irrelevant.
Therefore, as you go about your daily business and activities today, sincerely gauge your love level with what today’s Bible says. And if you have fallen short in any of the things listed out that love should be. Don’t condemn yourself, No, that’s not the intent of God’s Word ( Romans 8:1). Where you have not demonstrated love, today ask the Lord for forgiveness and ask the Holyspirit to help you and give you the grace to walk in Love in your dealing with yourself and others too as today’s Bible passage outlines.
Remember, none of us is perfect, and we often fall short of doing the right thing every now and then. Which is why we have the Holyspirit to guide and lead us in God’s way. And it’s our responsibility to obey and listen to his guidance.
Know this, God will not require us to do something that he has not first demonstrated to us. God is love ( 1John 4:7) because his nature is love. We are his children which means the nature of love is inside of us and we also have the capacity to love not just ourselves but others too (1John 4:8-21).
And the icing on the cake is this – The Holyspirit helps and teaches us to love even those we might see as unlovable. Yours is just to rely on Him, Romans 5:5b says “…For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Do have a blessed and fruitful day.
God bless you.
