A Minute In It - Living Love

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and then ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians

Sometimes it is a good reminder to see what God says love should look like. As you read through the passage, ask yourself, do I love this way? Sometimes we are tempted to read this and judge others love toward us but the real test is if we are offering this to others.

Jesus loved like this.

Well Worth The Pain

Please, God, I have two requests;
    grant them so I’ll know I count with you:
First, lay off the afflictions;
    the terror is too much for me.
Second, address me directly so I can answer you,
    or let me speak and then you answer me. Job 13:20-22 (NLT)

Doesn't this sound like us sometimes? Something goes wrong and our response is to say to God "STOP!" And our second response is to ask him "What are you doing?" and "Why won't you answer me?"

When we are faced with trials and tests and life's yucky stuff, we want to know what God is doing and we want him to stop. But you see, it's in this place, in our place of helplessness that we grow closer to God. We've lost our self-sufficiency and we have nowhere else to go. We move closer to him and he draws near to us.

And that is what God wants. He wants our hearts. He wants us to be in a relationship with him so he allows the challenges to come. Then, at the end we can say like Job did "Before I only heard of who you were through others, now I know for myself." And just like with Job, knowing him yourself is well worth the pain.

Just Like a Child

Truly my soul finds rest in God. Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

My daughter recently sent me a video of my grandson. He had just gotten up from his nap and as they reached the bottom of the stairs he heard his dad's voice. He ran from the bottom of the stairs to the room where his dad stood.  As he ran he was calling out excitedly with noises (he's not old enough to talk yet).

When he got to his dad, he was scooped up and hugged. Then, he just sat there. He was content to be in his father's arms. Content to be near him. He didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to sit there and be held.

This reminded me of us. When we learn to recognize God's voice and we hear it, we run. We run toward that voice because we want to hear it again and again. We want to be scooped up and held. And when we are sitting in God's arms, we are content to just be.

There is no better place in the world to be than sitting, content, in my Father's arms.