Love

1 Corinthians 13

"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 I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.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. Now we see but a poor 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.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

When I reflect on God's perfect love, well, I realize how short I fall. This week in particular, my selfishness, my irritability, my resentfulness have been prominent. In anger, I want to hurt instead of protect. In frustration, I want to give up instead of persevere. God, however, has even greater reason to pour out His anger and give up on me, yet He never does. In 2 Thessalonians 3:5 Paul prays, "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and and to the steadfastness of Christ."

Last night, at the Shane & Shane/Bethany Dillon concert, so many of Shane & Shane's songs focused on our total inability to love God unless he moves us first. So many of their songs are prayers of desperation for God to please guide their wayward hearts. The songs pretty much echo the words of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" :

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

We are pretty hopeless. Hopeless at loving God, hopeless at loving one another, save for the help of the Holy Spirit.

Bethany Dillon's songs, on the other hand, are filled with such praise, such awe, such love for her Savior. When I was going through a difficult period in my life, I listened to her cd constantly and the words of her songs filled my heart with such comfort, hope and joy, because they reminded me of the greatness of my God.

May the Lord fill you with outstanding, everlasting love for Him and love for others this Valentine's Day!