ALWAYS and NEVER? - The Discipline of Love II



Love "...ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS perseveres." (1 Cor. 13:7)

ALWAYS is such an expansive and absolute expression, just as NEVER is absolute and conclusive.

So love always trusts, even when my loved one has cheated on me?
Always hopes, though I've seen no change in 25 years?!
Always protects, even though he/she has stabbed me in my back?
Always perseveres, though they've stolen from me, violated my body, killed my children?
Love always forgives even though he/she repeatedly violates my trust and takes advantage of my generousity?
Love NEVER fails?

Does the Word of God really mean ALWAYS and NEVER as we know it? I suppose that's why Jesus used a different expression in case we needed clarity, "Forgive seventy times seven." I guess that's why when dying on the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." I suppose that is why we are reminded in Ephesians 6 we are reminded that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers and spiritual forces of darkness.

Love baffles my mind. So in this wishy-washy world we live in, with the pervasive pallor of a Hollywood depiction of love primarily based on emotion, I say:

"Love is making difficult choices regardless of how you feel, to honor God and act righteously, over and over and over and over again." God is love and if he lives in us we can do ALL things. We can do ALL things through Christ who gives us strength. We can love our enemies and those who despitefully use us. We can forgive those who've wronged us seventy times seven times.



Help us, Father, to love.

The Message is Love

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"...don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (NLT)
 - We do not belong to ourselves. We are bought with an incredibly high price. Our bodies are to be an offering of love and gratitude back unto God.

1 Corinthians 7:19
"Circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts."
- And what are his commands, considering circumcision was one of his commands?

Galatians 6:2
"Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
- By carrying each other's burdens we fulfill the law of Christ? And what is the law of Christ?

Matthew 20:25-28
"...whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
- If the Son of Man, Jesus, did not come to be served, but to serve others; if the Son of Man gave his life as a ransom for many, what message is he sending to us, his disciples?

Matthew 22:37-40
"...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
- Ah, the message, the law of love.

Romans 13:8
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."

1 Corinthians 13:13
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." (KJV)

John 3:16
 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotton Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life."
- The message is love.

John 17:23
"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me."
- There can be no unity without love.

1 Peter 4:8
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of  wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..."

 

God's message to us through Christ is love.
 I want the message of Christ, the gospel, to be hammered (stamped) into my head, into my heart, into my life, so that the world around me will know Him.









(**Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references are NIV)