These last
couple of days, I went to the shelf and picked up my Message version of the
Bible to do my devotions and I found a passage that is one probably most of you
know, but I just love the way The Message portrays it and the imagery that goes
with it! J
1 If I speak with human
eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a
rusty gate. 2If 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. 3-7If 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.
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.
8-10Love
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.
12We 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!
13But 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.
Can you guess
what passage this is?
1 Corinthians 13:1-10,
12-13…It’s the way of love! Don’t you just love this passage? J
Have you ever
stumbled upon one of those tags that says “One Size Fits All”? The same goes
for Christ’s love; One Love
Fits ALL! How many times in
your life do you speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy, yet recognize
the creaking? I creak one to many times for my liking (<- that does not look
like a real word…LOL ), but see where I lack in love and compassion and the
areas where I can grow. We won’t see things clearly sometimes, that’s because
we are indeed human, but our time is coming shortly! God is molding us and
crafting us to be the women of God that He intended us to be, and we won’t
reach perfect eloquent speech and angelic ecstasy until that day. Yet, we still
strive towards the goal.
Philippians
3:14 says, “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made.
But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached
out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an
expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the GOAL, where God is BECKONING
us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and RUNNING, and I’m NOT TURNING BACK.”
Where is Christ
reaching out to you and where do you need to reach back? Where are you running,
and are you looking to turn back? If you are not reaching…REACH! If you are not
running…RUN! And if you think you might turn back…DON’T! Press onward toward
the goal, knowing that in Christ your running with a purpose! Make that your
Christian apologetic (your discipline of defending your position of faith)…that
Christ poured out His blood for you, and has saved you through this act of
mercy! That He cares and loves you, and that you are going to accept that with
all your being, and live in such a way that pleases HIM and impacts HIS
Kingdom! For this very moment in your life, is the time, and every moment after
is the time to claim Jesus as your own, and make Him famous…NO APOLOGIES!!! And
NO MORE CREAKY RUSTY GATES!!! His love fits all and so should ours!
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