God just really shook me. I just realized that I do not love.
Read this excerpt from Francis Chan’s Crazy Love:
“God’s definition of what matters is pretty straight forward. He measures our lives by how we love. In our culture, even if a pastor doesn’t actually love people, he can still be considered successful as long as he is a gifted speaker, makes his congregation laugh, or prays for “all those poor, suffering people in the world” every Sunday.
But Paul writes that even if “I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2-3 ESV). Wow. Those are strong and unmistakable words. According to God, we are here to love. Not much else really matters.”
So, up until here, I was just reading and feeling convicted. Then, I read this next part:
“So God assesses our lives based on how we love. But the word love is so overused and worn out. What does God mean by love? He tells us,
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes al things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 ESV.”
Wow. I am not loving. If the definition of love is in these verses, I have been embodying the definition of hate. As I read through each one of these words, I thought of people in my life who I have thought of as not patient or not kind. I thought of people that I have met that have acted on envy or were boastful. Then, I realized that these things define how I have lived my life.
Wow. I am not loving.
Have you ever really read through 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and really thought about it? Really? Or is it something that you just hear at weddings and preached in sermons? I was about to glance over it when I felt miserable. If this is how God assesses my life, I am so glad that we have grace. My love is not perfect. But we have a perfectly loving God.
