Love Love

The following passage is probably one of the more well known passages in the Bible.  It's been used at weddings, talked about in church, and quoted for years. It is probably familiar to all of us.  Today however, I want to challenge you to put your name in place of the word "love." I did this exercise yesterday reading Crazy Love. I would encourage you to take a moment and do the same.


^{1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13
4} Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I was not surprised to find that I could not truthfully say that I do all of these things.  In fact, I'm probably in violation of all of them at some point or another.  The Bible calls us to be love. In the verses preceeding this passage, Paul claims that we can have all the scriptual knowledge and faith in the world, we can even offer our bodies to our cause, but if we don't do any of this with love than it is meaningless! I like to think that I am a loving person, that I give love to others, etc. but in reality, I fall pretty short. 

I don't know about you, but I want to be able to confidently say that I love like this. But, to truly encompass a love like this, I need help. We can't live this kind of love on our own, we need God to transform our hearts and minds. I don't think I can love people like this if I am not deeply in love with God, because He is the whole reason we love. To be honest, it kind of scares me to fall in love with God, my own humaness just doesn't think I can handle/ or want to handle some of the sacrifice that comes with it. But, I have experienced firsthand His love and witnessed His presence and grace, and if that's what is in store for me, then I want to fall head over heels. May our deepest desire be to truly love God, to not be guilted into a relationship with Him, to not go through the motions, but to passionately pursure a lasting, loving companionship. When we fall in love with God, then loving others will naturally follow.

James 4:8 "Come near to God, and He will come near to you."