Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Love - a deliberate choice

On the wall against my desk hangs a poster that reads, "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: LOVE, PRAYER, and FORGIVENESS."

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." ~ John 13:34-35 (NKJV).

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

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.


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, 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, put up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. 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 truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (The Message)
.

The substance of love is only revealed in difficult moments. Staying in love calls forth diligence. So what is this thing call 'love'? I believe it is an attitude of the heart, a posture that the beloved beholds first towards the One who first loves us, then towards others.

Ever been separated from a friend whom God brings reunion after a decade? Ever gone through a broken marriage which the Lord restored harmony to? Ever experienced the loss of a loved one only to cherish the living more? Ever been out of the marketplace for what seemed like forever when the Lord brought about a restoration?

Moses sat out in the wilderness for 40 years. Probably thought he was going to retire there, but no......the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush and set the rest of his life on fire. Not to mention the adventures and miracles. Lest we forget that good old Moses lived to see the glory of the LORD. Just when you think that you have your life, others and God, all figured out, think again.

Joseph was the apple of his father's eye. A dreamer (visionary would be more appropriate), who dreamed dreams. Except that he was too loud about it, too forthcoming which drove his brothers' jealousy index up, so they traded him in to some Midianites who were passing by. So begun the making of Joseph the dreamer, the slave, the ex-convict and finally, Prime Minister of Egypt.

So, the next time someone in the family gets crossed with you or gives up on you, don't lose heart. The heart is a vital instrument that God has placed in each one of us so that we may have a heart-beat, His heart-beat. Jesus did not let the difficult dynamic of his family overshadow his call from God. And because he didn't, his family had a happy ending......He gave them space, time, and grace. And because he did, they changed....One brother became an apostle (Gal. 1:19) and others became missionaries (1 Cor. 9:5).

Last but not the least, let's remember "love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails". ~ 1 Cor 13:7-8 (NKJV)

Shalom,
Sv
Category: cf_sv, cf_tht

No comments: