I was challenged by a friend of mine to find out the real meaning of love & I had to turn to the good book for some answers. What I found was quite intriguing. I’ve been always taught ‘’God’’ is love & love itself is kind, patient, not self seeking & the whole works of Corinthians 1.13. Thus if I can see patience in a person it is an act of love, if there is kindness there is love & if that person is not self seeking there is love. So it’s always a good measure of exactly how much in love you might be or how much in love someone else might be with you. What hit me hard was the fact that Love cannot be defined as a ‘’state of being’’ but rather an ‘’action verb’’. Example, she is a smart girl. ‘’Is’’ being the verb here, but only a state of being. However If I should say, a dog bit me. ‘’Bit’’ would be an action verb. What I’m trying to say is that, that amazing feeling you feel at night when you are about to go to bed that makes you feel so warm & cozy thinking about the person? You hear what I’m saying? That makes you think wow a feeling so strong, well in reality that is not love but just passionate lust & attraction which is a state of being. Love is much more than a feeling & love is only tested & proven through time by your actions by being kind, patient, not self seeking, etc. So just be careful the next time you think your in love, give it time & see if you actually love this person. Ok, so here’s the first part of Corinthians 1.13. (It turned out that the meaning of this verse is much deeper than even what occurred to me above)
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
What the first part of this chapter says is that to speak in tongues, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, to prophesy, which is also a gift of the Holy Spirit, and if you have extreme faith but do not have love, you are nothing. Meaning, it’s actually possible A) to operate in these gifts without having God in your life because God is love. B) Once a gift is given God never takes it away, tongues, gift of prophesy etc. C) even charity, faith, tongues, prophesy combined you are nothing without love & nothing without God intimately close to you & within you through his holy spirit.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Powerful isn’t it, always protects, always trusts, and always perseveres. For those who think that with time love fades away think again, true love is time tested & it grows through the years. And finally true love, never fails. It’s speaking more or less about the love of God, but it is also a benchmark to measure ourselves against how much we love someone, our parents for example & how we treat them. A spouse, parent, sibling, anyone really.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
This is easily my favorite part. Prophesies, tongues & knowledge are put to shame before love but with greater & deeper depth. It says that when perfection comes the imperfect disappears; the perfection talked about here is true love, the love of God. And it goes onto show that a person without the love of God in their hearts is like a child with childish ways & with the reasoning of a child, but one who has the love of god deep within is like a man who has put childish ways behind him. It’s called Maturity. Now we shall see a poor reflection as in a mirror, because we cannot in any way without the love of God get intimately close to him even though, read that again, even though we have faith, knowledge, the gift of prophesy, the gift of tongues etc. So though we might be Christians with Christ within us, we are a poor reflection without the love of God burning bright within us. The verse goes on to say that ‘’Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face’’. That is an amazing place to be, face to face with God because his love burns within you. No matter what goes on around you are absorbed by the physical emotional & intellectual knowledge that God is with you. It’s like having someone next to you, a best friend all the time who you can talk to. None of this is possible without having the love of God inside of you.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I hope this revelation gets a hold of you & blesses you just as much as it has blessed me over the past 2 days. I’ve been able to discern a lot of things in my life with this one powerful chapter.
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