How’s the Love?
By Elin Henderson
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)
By Elin Henderson
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)
To do
this justice, I would need a deep, gravelly radio voice that asks, “How’s the
Love, baby?” One of the greatest signs of maturity is love. This is evidenced
here in 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter. Paul is just finishing a
serious discussion on diversity and unity in light of the liberty that we have
in Christ. Liberty and love intersect in chapter 13 when Paul unites the two to
show that true maturity is not measured by the number of rules you live by, how
much freedom you have, or even your gifts, but by the love you show to
others.
We can have many accomplishments, gifts or graces as it were. The tail end of 1 Corinthians 12 is a list of these many great graces. Yet, Paul doesn’t stop there, in verse 31 he tells the Corinthians, “Wait, just a minute, there is a better way,” and goes directly into love. Each of the gifts he mentions in verses 28-30, he shows (in chapter 13) to be useless and empty on their own. Just because we have these gifts does not mean we are mature or qualified; the qualifier is always love. It truly is the core of all the virtues. If we love others, we can rejoice with them and where is envy and strife? If we love others we can be patient and long-suffering because we are thinking of them first and not ourselves. If we love we can see past differences and find unity. And the list goes on.
So, my challenge to each one of us is to do a “love evaluation” and hand it in to God! How’s the love going in your life? For myself, I made a list: 1. family, 2. close friends, 3. acquaintances, 4. colleagues/coworkers, 5. strangers, and even 6. enemies. I went through each category and asked myself, “How am I doing?” The results were convicting and challenging. It brings us to our knees before the great Love of our lives. It shows us our need to allow His love to infuse and change each area of our lives, and to flow out to each of our relationships.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What are some gifts/abilities that you have? Make a list of those and ask yourself how love is impacting them.
2. Conduct a personal “love evaluation.” Did you find some relationships lacking? Can you think of some practical ways to show love to those individuals? How can prayer be a part of that?
FURTHER READING:
1 Peter 4:8; 2 Thessalonians 3:5
We can have many accomplishments, gifts or graces as it were. The tail end of 1 Corinthians 12 is a list of these many great graces. Yet, Paul doesn’t stop there, in verse 31 he tells the Corinthians, “Wait, just a minute, there is a better way,” and goes directly into love. Each of the gifts he mentions in verses 28-30, he shows (in chapter 13) to be useless and empty on their own. Just because we have these gifts does not mean we are mature or qualified; the qualifier is always love. It truly is the core of all the virtues. If we love others, we can rejoice with them and where is envy and strife? If we love others we can be patient and long-suffering because we are thinking of them first and not ourselves. If we love we can see past differences and find unity. And the list goes on.
So, my challenge to each one of us is to do a “love evaluation” and hand it in to God! How’s the love going in your life? For myself, I made a list: 1. family, 2. close friends, 3. acquaintances, 4. colleagues/coworkers, 5. strangers, and even 6. enemies. I went through each category and asked myself, “How am I doing?” The results were convicting and challenging. It brings us to our knees before the great Love of our lives. It shows us our need to allow His love to infuse and change each area of our lives, and to flow out to each of our relationships.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What are some gifts/abilities that you have? Make a list of those and ask yourself how love is impacting them.
2. Conduct a personal “love evaluation.” Did you find some relationships lacking? Can you think of some practical ways to show love to those individuals? How can prayer be a part of that?
FURTHER READING:
1 Peter 4:8; 2 Thessalonians 3:5
Oakwood’s
missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as
church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is
mother to fourteen-year-old Callie and twelve-year-old Elias.
