Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
~1 Corinthians 13:4-7
This week I had the occasion to revisit these familiar verses and work on re-memorizing them after many years. I was so moved and convicted by the Holy Spirit through them!
This is what love is. And how do I measure up to this standard? I think sometimes I do better at bearing all things than I do at believing all things...ask my husband and children whose spirits I have sometimes crushed by my unbelief. I think I endure better than I hope, being a pessimist by both inclination and genetics. But then, if I am honest, even my enduring is full of self-seeking and whining. I can sympathize with Paul when he says in Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?". It is this thought that sends him full-throttle into Romans chapter 8:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son...
~Romans 8:1-3a
And all I can say from my point of weakness is, "Hallelujah, what a Savior!"
If you have never considered the claims of Christ, Gentle Reader, do so now, while it is still called today.
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