A look at LOVE

In my personal bible study, I've slowly combed my way from Matthew to where I'm currently at: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 has captured my attention. There are many things being "quickened" in these verses with me. It's amazing how you can read something hundreds/thousands of times and not have it move from head-knowledge to heart/soul-realization. We can often rattle-off what LOVE is and almost feel like a little kid that raised his hand first in class to answer a teacher's question. That's how I've been sometimes/often.

In reading these verses on LOVE, I read them in NKJV, NLT, and The Message. The Message did a cool thing in that they extracted some of the main tenets of LOVE and listed them. Here they are:

• 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.

I'm going to camp-out on these verses for a while. I know what they say, but I want to apply what I know to my life (wisdom). In every relationship and every human interaction, I want to be attentive to how I'm being LOVING (or not). I'm camping-out here, because love for God and others wraps up all the commandments. I want to understand this and live in it.

Another thing that grabbed my attention was the first few verses that touched on having gifts/talents/skills and how if we're missing LOVE- it renders us almost useless/disqualified. Ouch. This means that we can be smart and talented, but made disqualified for our lack of LOVE! Hmmmmmmm. Help us to be more LOVING, Lord. LOVE is a choice- NOT a feeling. The timing of my personal reading and what's being taught on Sundays is simply God's timing. God is good/LOVE.

Jason