Nothing without love

Prayer Practice

Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.

DAILY READING

1 Corinthians 13

REFLECTION

Nothing without love

 by Kelsey Bacon

This passage is one of my absolute favorite chunks of scripture in the entire Bible. It's not just because it so beautifully describes what God's love for us is like, but that it reassures us that we are in his hands, and that his love is not only here for us now, but it's coming for us even more fiercely than we can imagine.

When God says all the things that love is, I feel I can let out a breath. I know that I struggle with patience, but in my shortcomings, love is patient. I know that I struggle to trust, and in my humanness, love trusts. I know that I am self-seeking, and in my sinfulness, love is pure. And love never fails. When I fail, when others fail, when the world fails around me, God does not, and his love never ceases or wavers. 

The second-to-last verse of this passage has always fascinated me: "For now we see only a 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." I imagine that this kind of fullness is the uninterrupted love of a sinless world, a completed world. Now we are separated, and can only know God to such a degree. But how sweet and joyous will it be when all has come to its fullness and we can truly know this love in the way God intended? Truly know God in the way he intended? 

I think this feeling is best described in a quote from the very last Chronicles of Narnia book, The Last Battle. At the end of the book, the characters cross from the old Narnia into what they realize to be a richer, more beautiful Narnia--the true Narnia--as they all return home to Aslan for good. One of the characters says this, "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we have loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this...Come further up, come further in!"

We belong somewhere else, somewhere where God's love is fully felt and fully known. But until we're there, even God's love on this side of heaven is better than anything we can offer. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and preserves, and it never fails.

Let's Talk About Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

No, I’m not quoting Celine Dion lyrics at you. I promise. But while we’re on the topic of pop culture love songs, let’s clarify that I’m not talking about love in the same way that Celine or Beyonce are, though I’ll confess that for a long time, I thought that was the kind of love Paul was talking about in this passage of his letter to the Corinthians. So often, we are tempted into reading this passage of Scripture for what we would individually gain from it—“look for people who treat you with kindness, who are patient with you, who will not delight in evil but rejoice in truth with you, and live life with those people.”

But this portion of Scripture is more than simply a sweet “quotable quote” that can be graven into any number of clever gifts found in Hallmark and hospital gift shops. It is SO much more powerful than that.

Living lives that are fashioned after the model of Christlike love would indicate that love is not about the way it makes us feel (sorry, Michael Jackson); it is a self-sacrificial way of engaging with & serving those around us, and acting in ways that benefit their growth, their goodness, their wholeness and their flourishing, even (and often) at great cost to ourselves. If we take a moment to notice Paul’s words surrounding 1 Cor 13, we’d notice him speaking at length about spiritual gifts and how those gifts play out in community. Leaning into the gifts God has given each of us—leaning into the power he has bestowed on us as his image-bearers—is not an action that we engage in to glorify ourselves or gain power and prestige for our own sake, but rather for the community as a whole.

If that seems like too tall an order to take on, take heart: you can’t do it alone. Neither can I. I am entirely too complacent, too selfish and too broken to turn my heart toward others in my own power. Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us and conforms us ever more to this truly powerful and loving way of life.

Where Grace Begins

“I was the one who damaged the car,” I confessed to my friend and his father. Together, they had built it to compete in the Soap Box Derby, and so some of us boys took turns one afternoon riding it down the inclined driveway. Sometime after we put the car away in the garage, however, I went back for more fun, but this time alone. Thinking the car was safely secured, I left it unattended for a moment, only to look up in helpless horror as it rolled down the driveway and into some concrete blocks, snapping a steering cable and tearing a hole in the side of the body. I rolled it back into the garage and didn’t say a word, somehow hoping in my nine-year-old mind that the damage would not be discovered. It was, of course, but I denied any culpability during the questioning that followed. Inside, however, I churned.

It doesn’t take us long in life to discover that truth is an immovable thing. It withstands not only blatant lies, but also subjective opinions and feelings that subtly challenge reality as though it can be eroded by our own desires. Though we cannot see truth, it is an unconquerable champion—we either accept it on its terms or wither and writhe before it in failed rebellion. (When will we ever learn?) Is this a bad thing? No, the immutability of truth is good for us, it is hope for us.

For truth is the starting point of grace. When do we receive forgiveness? Is it when we conceal a matter, or when we openly confess it? When do we abandon our agendas and turn toward God’s, when we coddle our feelings by justifying our wrongs, or when we come to terms with their moral offense and destructive results? And what are the consequences when we declare wrong to be right? The apostle John answers: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”¹ In the mercy of God, He beckons us to a place called, "truth," where we confront our sin with confidence, experience God's forgiveness in joy, and savor His grace in peace.

The apostle Paul taught us “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”³ My friend and his father showed me this love by forgiving me for my carelessness and the damage that came from it. But I can’t help but think they were even more relieved at the dispelling of falsehood and our arrival at the point where truth reigns and grace begins.

Father, your Word is truth. Send your Spirit to guide me in all truth and to put behind me any notion or desire that would challenge it. Inspire me to speak truth in love and to respond to truth with grace, just as you have done with me. In the name of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit, I pray. Amen.

Christ in me is freedom.

¹ 1 John 1:8-10
² 1 Corinthians 13:6

Read today’s Scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Love Conquers

During this sermon series, we are addressing Spiritual Warfare, and openly discussing how real it is today. We are talking about the tools available to us to use in order to fight a Spiritual Warfare. It is important we arm ourselves sufficiently so we can fight the good fight.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

When there is a battle going on in our hearts, when ugly or hateful words are said by those we care about, we need to fight back with the only effective tool we have...LOVE. There is a reason this chapter of 1 Corinthians is read at many weddings and even funeral services. Love is the greatest combatant we have against the attacks of evil one.

The father of lies, Satan, does not love, but he hates. He hates all things good and wants to bring us down with him. Hate is deadly and dangerous. Jesus reminds us of the value of love with His Word in John 13:34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”


1 Corinthians 13

The good news about the bad news

So do you want the good news first, or the bad news? 

Someone said, “Bad news.”  OK ...

Here’s the bad news: We are going to be tempted.  We will be enticed to do something that appeals to us, even though we know it to be wrong.  The allure may be to deceive, because we want to avoid confrontation ... or to take what is not ours, in order to alleviate our discontent ... or to hold grudges, so to insulate ourselves from being vulnerable again ... or to boast, assuaging self-doubt ... or to speak ill of another and get “sweet revenge.”  It’s not a matter of “if” we will be tempted, but of “when” and “how.” And, of course, “what” we will do in the face of it!

Recalling the Israelites in exodus from Egypt, the Apostle Paul observed that all proceeded forth under a spectacular pillar of cloud, but some became idolaters ... all miraculously passed through the sea, but some committed sexual immorality ... all ate the same spiritual food (manna), but some tested the Lord ... all drank the same spiritual drink that poured forth from the rock, yet some grumbled.  I think it would be safe to say that all were lured in these ways and that, while some took the bait, others resisted it.

And that’s the good news: We can stand up under temptation.  It is helpful to know there is nothing unusual about the specific types of enticement we face at any given moment; people around the globe encounter the same ones every day ... and many stand up to them.  Their trust and obedience inspire us.  We are not alone.

In fact, when we are tempted, God, himself, is right there with us ... and not just passively so, but actively engaged on our behalf!  Paul promises us in today’s reading, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  And James assures us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. (James 4:7-8a)”

Temptation is inevitable, but deliverance is available.  The good news overpowers the bad.

[To see the daily reading, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, click here.]

Motivated by Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (MSG)  If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

These are some pretty strong words and as I study them and piece together the message they convey I sense it is all about motivation.  I can be a gifted speaker, one who can talk with authority and elegance, but if my motives aren't right it is a waste.  If I possess the Spiritual gift of Faith and use this gift in amazing ways, but I do it all for my glory and edification, I am a loser in the game of life.

If I am generous to a fault, giving all I have to the poor, feeding the hungry but do it so that I can become known for my work; never pointing to God and giving Him the glory, I have wasted my energy and frittered away my life. 

If you have ever been on the receiving end of someone's self-indulgent behavior you understand how detrimental it can be. Any use of a gift when not shared with a pure heart, is no gift at all.  If I spend time with you because it makes me look good, not because I love you and want to share my life, all I did was feed my ego.  As the NIV puts it, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Jesus said "Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another." (John 13:34 (MSG) Love must always be our motivation. There is no substitution for love and it should be the reason we do everything.  Love is the reason God sent his Son to us.  "For God so loved the world..."



1 Corinthians 13

Growing up in liberty

When 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.  1 Corinthians 13:11

Somewhere along the way, I began to picture parenting as a figurative rope that we slacken over time.  When our children choose selfish or disrespectful ways, we pull them closer, exerting our authority and guiding them toward wiser paths.  And as their behavior matures, we loosen our grip and watch them flourish in newly found dimensions of freedom.  While there are times of tightening our grip or even pulling back, overall, parenting is a process of recognizing maturity and celebrating it with liberty.

When we are born of the Spirit, we begin new growth, much like children.  It is a steady process of walking away from our sin nature and its preoccupation with self, sojourning ahead in our new nature, which is Christ in us.  As Paul tells the church in Corinth, spiritual immaturity looks a lot like envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, self-centeredness, and unforgiveness (see 1 Corinthians 13).  These are the ways of our "childish" sin nature, which can never be anything more than these.

But God calls us to grow up in our new nature, which is Christ living in us.  And what does this maturity in him look like?

Knowing the peace of our salvation, we leave behind useless attempts at self-righteousness and trust completely in the sufficiency of Christ, who is our life.

Knowing eternal life for us has already begun, we rest in the hope of Christ who creates new "today's" forever.

Knowing forgiveness and newness of life, we mature in the love of Christ and celebrate him in the liberty that is ours in him.

Spiritual maturity looks a lot like faith, hope and love.  And the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13 - Love is the greatest

Christmas is frequently referred to as the season of love. Families come together, often reuniting after a time of turmoil or separation. Children behave with quick reminders of Santa’s anticipated arrival. Smiles come easier, people are out and about shopping, and friendly greetings tumble off the lips of most everyone we encounter.

Of course, babies do bring out the best in us; and the Baby Jesus is known to go even further and keep out the best in us. When friends and relatives come together for fun, gift exchanging and festive feasts, we can feel the love and warmth family togetherness brings.

There is also the other side of the equation for those who lost a loved one in recent months; there are the memories of Christmases past. But these too can be filled with laughter as we verbally recall those times. There are other factors and not everyone is in the mood for joy; nor can they feel the familial love, but watching the children enjoy every moment can lift the mood and cause smiles.

The selected scripture today is one of the most popular, with recognizable one-liners peppered throughout the 13 verses.

1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV) “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

If Christmas time does not fill your heart with gladness, for whatever reason, you are not alone. But, there is a way to find that feeling, a way to fill your heart with the joy of the season and that is to concentrate on the Baby and the Love which entered the world that memorable morn.

Read 1 Corinthians 13 here

Listen to 1 Corinthians 13 here