Love is…

…And now I will show you a most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

My son and I are memorizing 1 Corinthians 13, breaking the Bread of His word open and feasting, together.  I want him to see his mama reading and learning and finding joy even now.

As we walked through the verse I’ve read hundreds of times, I’ll admit I became a little overwhelmed with what I was not :

• I am not patient or kind all of the time.   My family bears witness…
• I hold things too dear in my heart.
• My own way is always at the forefront of my mind.
• Irritability and resentfulness can become companions.

His Word is sharper than a double-edged sword isn’t it?  It slashes through sin and His Spirit lovingly convicts and brings about repentance.

And then I heard my son say,  as he sat back in his chair and blew out a breath, “It’s a good thing God gave us Jesus, mom.  It’s a good thing…We would just never be able to be love like that.”

So true son, speaking with wisdom beyond his own capability.  And I let those words sink in: Jesus, who is the gift we celebrate every year but seem to forget in the craziness of the season, is Love.  He is all of those things that I can’t seem to measure up to.

But He has given us the Helper. His Spirit moves in us and shows us a most excellent way…

Have you accepted His gift, my friend? God – who is Love, gave His son for us and clothed Himself in humanity, so that we might have life.

Love never fails…

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.” 1 Corinthians 13: 13  (ESV)