Thank You, Father, for a productive yet laid-back day. May our time together be all it needs to be. May my love for You shine through. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (<<click here to read the passage)

And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love. AMP

At the end of verse 8, Paul wrote that love endures forever. In morally corrupt Corinth (where the recipients of this letter lived), love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning. Today, people are still confused about love.
We say we love all kinds of things. We love ice cream, puppies (or kittens!), a particular shade of lipstick, an artist’s hit song, and how well a plan comes together! I try not to use “love” about those kinds of things, but it’s hard because we hear it used that way almost every day. It’s not wrong, and it’s definitely not a sin, but, for me, at least, I try to attach love to where it is most important – God, the things of God, and others.
Another area in today’s society where love is a mixed-up term with little meaning is in many of our everyday relationships. Love is cheapened in media, be it movies, television programs, books, and other publications. Not exclusively, but in many instances, love in these scenarios is shallow, tawdry, and self-seeking. But that is not how it should be!
As my Life Application Study Bible says, Love is the greatest of all human qualities and is an attribute of God himself (1 John 4:8). Love involves unselfish service to others.
That is emphasized in the Amplified Bible’s translation here in verse 13, where it fleshes out the concept of love by stating that it is unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me.
A Ligonier article, He First Loved Us, reads, For as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “we love because he first loved us.” It is the effectual love of God that first changes our hearts in order to make us capable of love, and it is His example of love that reminds us again and again of our need to love other people.
Faith is the foundation and content of God’s message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is action. When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves. Does your faith fully express itself in loving others?
May that be our goal every day!

Jan 15th, 2024, Mon, 7:19 pm