SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

  "4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

― 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7

ECCLESIASTES 4-6

10Whoever loves money never has enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

This too is meaningless.

11As goods increase,

so do those who consume them.

And what benefit are they to the owners

except to feast their eyes on them? (5:10-11)

2 CORINTHIANS 10

17But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^b18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

JOURNAL 

All of life is about learning to become content with who we are, who God is and coming to terms with what we offer the world. The one thing that we can always give regardless of talent or ability is love. To care for others and give them the love that we receive from God is the greatest blessing in life.

Yet what usually trips me up is when I start doubting God's love, and begin to look to man for validation and affirmation. It is such a losing game. For people can never love the way we NEED them to love. When I start venturing down this path...everything becomes tainted and grey.

I think this is why 1 Corinthians 13 and the description of love is so important. Not only can I look to it and see how miserably I fail to love in this way. But I also can look at it and realize that this kind of love is beyond the human race. It is truly Godly and only in God can we receive and give anything close to this capacity.  I can therefore let other humans off the hook to provide this for me. The tastes we do get with each other are only because God is part of it.  It is only because he is working in and through us.

When I think about Jesus and the fact that he was the most loving, perfect human being to ever live and yet he was betrayed, questioned, spit on and abandoned, how can I ever expect to look to mankind to receive affirmation and validation when mankind failed so miserably in even giving it to Jesus. What I can do though is to seek God and his love and once accepted I can love and can give that love away. In doing so I can then recognize when another person is filled with this love. I can then connect in ways that brings us into the presence and fellowship of God. This is the church and it has nothing to do with a building or an alter or a choir...yet in this the miracle and holiness of God is experienced. It can be found anywhere that two human beings experience and connect in the love and grace of Christ.

20For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

MATTHEW 18