Verse of the Day 3/16
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; English Standard Version (ESV)
Today's verses come from 1 Corinthians 13, one of the most beloved chapters in the Bible. We should all be very familiar with it but the putting into practice is another story, a great challenge. I read it this morning in a devotional but what caught my attention today was one word at the end of verse 5, "irritable". Think about that "love is not irritable" or you might say easily irritated. Whoa! In today's society it seems like every one is irritable and has a "short fuse" and the "it's my way or the highway" attitude that goes along with it is on display everywhere. Other translations say "not provoked" and some modern translations insert an extra word "easily provoked". I guess it is a way of saying that everyone is provoked but that the loving Christian is "not easily" provoked. I think God would prefer the first.
David Jeremiah writes in his devotional, "Our goal is to be people who are not provoked to anger. The apostle Paul wrote, "[Love] is not provoked." Other translations say that love "is not easily angered" (NIV) and love "doesn't fly off the handle" (The Message). We could also say that love doesn't have a short fuse. Love is able to endure a lot of insult, provocation, and hurt without reacting in anger. Love responds instead of reacting."
This passage on love should cause us to step back and evaluate our life and the qualities of love mentioned and to see if ours would pass the test. If you think you do, read the portion below from The Message, then honestly, ask your spouse.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
I'll end with another familiar verse from Luke's gospel, may this be our goal and on our hearts and minds.
"So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, 'and 'your neighbor as yourself.' Luke 10:27 NKJV
Blessings,
Mike
1 Corinthians 13The Message (MSG)
The Way of Love
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
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