“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;"
Love
suffers long is the part of this verse that pops out to me most – because of
the time God has me in right now. But if you look at it – it’s the very first
thing in a long list of what love is, written by Paul. The very first thing.
Why is this?
Because
love is enduring. It’s not something that’s meant to be a fuzzy feeling or the
way you feel about a person. If love was just about feeling, we wouldn’t suffer
long. It would be something we went through for a period of time and then….
It’s over. But God calls us to an enduring faithful love.
Love is
something that looks past the immediate, self-serving pleasures of right now,
and sees the future. Love is what we exercise when we learn about the other
person’s past – and get over it. Love is something that – even when it hurts so
bad that all you want to do is crawl inside yourself and stay there forever –
continues.
Love
isn’t a light thing. We use it so casually – from “I love popcorn!” to “I love
my brother.” To “I love my wife.” But this love that we talk about here is the
suffering, enduring, kind, un-envious, humble love. Love that we can exercise
every day.
Today,
I will catch myself before I use the word “Love” in a casual manner, and begin
learning to use it only in a context that’s meaningful.
No comments:
Post a Comment