Your nugget for the day: 4-21-14— These Three Things 1 Corinthians 13: 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.- NKJV Paul had just finished an in-depth discourse on the meaning of love in the life of a Christian starting in verse 1 and working his way to the verse 13. Why is it that he makes a point to single out these three things: faith, hope and love? I believe the reason is: It is all we really have! If you were to take away our faith, our hope and the love that is in our lives, we would be a sorry mess! In fact, I wonder how love we would live? Not long I would suspect. That is why Paul tells us to focus on these three and especially love. Love is something that has become an abused word in society: I love to go fishing, I love cake, I love this or that; and so we have lost some of the deeper meanings of love in our lives. The word in the original Greek language for love used in this text is: agape, (ag-ah’-pay). The meaning here is not a social or a moral love, it is a deep affection or benevolence; a love-feast if you will. I believe that this type of love comes from a deep and meaningful relationship with the very source of this love, Jesus and Our Father in Heaven. This love is a forgiving, no-holds-barred love that understands if we receive this type of love from God, He expects us to extend this type of love to those in our lives. You might say, “I can’t love that way!” or “That person has hurt me too much and burned me too many times!” While all of that and more is probably true, consider this: God extends that love to you and I daily, despite the numerous times have we hurt Him, burned Him. PLUS even though He is VERY aware of our stumbles and failures, He has prepared a place with Him in Heaven for us! Agape love can grow in us IF we will allow it to as we grow in Jesus While this is difficult for us to understand, it doesnt mean it is impossible. Give those people that are the hardest for you to love over to God and pray for them daily; EVERY DAY, as well for your own growth in Loving them. Regardless of the hurt and pain they may have caused you, this development of forgiveness and agape love is as much for you as it is them. In closing I want to share from The Message a portion of the verse I shared earlier: 1 Cor. 13:13…….Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly…. What awesome advice! Remember, God’s Got This!!
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:07:13 +0000
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