I have been meditating on 1 Corinthians 13 for several months, but I always began with verse 4, because I thought that was where I needed the most improvement.
Then one Sunday I watched as a young father struggled to calm his son. He was clueless. He turned to me and said, "I don't know what else to do."
I whispered, "Just love him."
I thought how the young man repeatedly looks for opportunities to express himself whether to share an exhortation or sing on the praise team all the while leaving his wife with the all of the children. (In our church, the children are in the service. There is no children's church.)
Suddenly what began as a critical thought, boomeranged back. I thought of the past 30 years especially how I did high profile things while neglecting my own family. Only when we operate in divination instead of discernment is this possible. Divination is a counterfeit for the truth, but sadly on the outside it looks real.
When a person is being trained as a cashier, they make them count money for hours on end. The purpose is to teach them the feel and look of money, then instinctively when someone gives them a counterfeit they will immediately know the difference.
Maybe I spent too few hours counting His ways.
Here are those beginning three verses:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Here is my tongue in cheek, finger pointing back to me transliteration:
1 Though I sing on the Praise Team and help with the children's choir, but have not God's love inside of me and sung silly songs and laughed with my own children, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, attend every church service and even teach clsses and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not tended to my family's needs in love and with joy, I am nothing.
3 And though I cook meals for the new mothers, and bring the best covered dish to the potluck, but I have not prepared an awesome meal for my own family and given them my time, it profits me nothing.
I am on the south end of life's journey now and I don't get a "do-over" with my young family, but I look around the church and I see mamas and daddies who could use encouragement and discernment of what is really important. They are young enough to get a do-over.
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2 comments:
Thank you for sharing Diane. This past year the Lord, unbeknownst by me, was preparing me to be used as His vessel for another person, in a way I had no understanding of. One of the things He kept telling me time and time again was, "Just love Him." It was confusing to me at first but by the end of the year when He made the plan more clear to me (though never completely) that love just came so naturally to me I stopped thinking about the action of loving. Not only did God requesting me to have His agape love for this person help me love that person, it also helped me get closer to God. And through all of that, love myself and everyone around me, more and better.
In His love,
Stacey L.
Diane,
Thank you for freely sharing your heart. Love & forgiveness truly are the bottom line, and without them all our efforts are in vain. Nothing we do, be it for Christ or for others is of any significance, IF, it is not down with His love..because everything else is just a personal agenda, motivated by the sin within.
I have finally come to a place of acceptance of my own rocky journey that exploded this past year. I realize how much I operated from that place of unloving (& fear & a bunch of other yuk), as a result, how many people around me I hurt, unknowingly. The Lord finally had to prune off a lot of rotten fruit that was bogging down my branches, even if it meant terminating long term friendships, turning my back on people & places & circumstances, and putting me through the fire to let go. I could not hold on to all those people & things anymore. I was pruned back to where it was just me & God, and relearning to receive & operate in His love. I have no regrets, now. I have no anger, now. At this point, I have complete acceptance, and I'm happy, and free.
So, thank you for the reminder, and thank you for your heart.
Love you sweet sister,
Karen
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