Love Is Not Rude or Self-seeking
It has been a day of a few traditions, Father, but we also had the opportunity to share the gifts and abilities You gave us with others. May they retain the blessing we were able to share.
1 Corinthians 13:5a (<<click here to read the passage)
[Love] is not rude; it is not self-seeking… AMP
My major in college was Church Music. That was my occupational goal in service to the Lord. Upon graduating, I was privileged to serve as a full-time Minister of Music in a church in the St. Louis metro area suburb of Webster Groves. While there, I returned to Ohio to marry my college sweetheart and, within the year, accepted a position as a Minister of Youth and Music at a church in Marietta, Ohio. I so enjoyed leading choirs and all aspects of worship – congregational singing and special music, as well as gifted musicians on piano and organ who graciously shared their talents supporting those areas of ministry, along with preludes, postludes, and offertories.
I still love putting together all the components of worship, except now I’m also responsible for expounding on God’s Word. Doing them all helps me coordinate the different components to emphasize key points.
All parts of the body (both our physical bodies and the Body of Christ – the Church), whether great or small, significant or seemingly insignificant, contribute to the entire outcome of what the body can do.
I think the pianist or organist is one of the significant parts of worship. Yet, though they play that role in the body, there are things they do that people think are insignificant. We realize that accompanying our singing is of great importance. (Ask any church that doesn’t have an accompanist, and they will share how difficult it is.) But the problem arises during their preludes (music before the service begins), postludes (music bringing the service to a close), and offertories.
Now, I understand congregations settling into their pews as a service begins. There may be some noises of jostling bodies and audible “Excuse me” or “Is anyone sitting there?”s. So maybe some leeway can be extended during preludes. And possibly the same leeway could be extended to families with small children, amongst others, preparing to leave the service at its conclusion, making noise over the postludes.
But one area I think love should be extended is during offertories. Those playing offertories have often invested a fair amount of time in preparation. Many churches have gifted people, and their time of contribution to worship in the giving of our tithes and offerings should also be respected and revered.
Verse 5 states that love is not rude or self-seeking. Rude is defined as being discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way. And self-seeking is being interested in your advantage in everything that you do. Carrying on conversations with your neighbors during the offertory is both rude and self-seeking. Doing that shows a lack of love for a member of the Body of Christ.
This is just one example of how we might improve our love for one another. Lord Jesus, help us to be sensitive to one another, loving others as we love ourselves. Amen.
Dec 25th, 2023, Mon, 8:14 pm
Merry Christmas!
Photo by Anneke Schram, via Canva Pro
I saw this layout on social media and loved it, so I made my own version of it! Merry Christmas to all!
No Excessive Pride in Love
Father, I am grateful that this was the last day of school until after the first of the new year. I ask that You enable me to use my time wisely and that my rest would be restorative. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:4d (<<click here to read the passage)
There are many things in life that are no problem for us in moderation. The problem arises when we overindulge. An occasional sweet treat is enjoyable, but eating too much of it can adversely affect our health – weight gain, tooth decay, diabetes, etc. We know that too much alcohol can give us all kinds of issues. Even things meant for our good can take us downward if we overdo them, medications, for example.
Did you realize that you can drink excessive amounts of water? We understand that water is good for us. It is essential for our very survival. But if we consume it in too great a quantity, the Mayo Clinic states that our kidneys can’t get rid of the excess water. The sodium content of our blood becomes diluted. It’s called hyponatremia, and it can be life-threatening.
We have to be careful in many areas of our lives.
Pride is one of those areas. Pride in and of itself is not necessarily bad. There’s nothing wrong with feeling a deep pleasure or satisfaction that comes from our achievements. If you’re a good speaker or play an instrument well, or if encouraging and loving people comes easy for you, it’s all good.
We get into trouble when we cross the line, become braggarts, and speak with too much pride about something we have done or possess. When we begin thinking that we are better and more important than other people, that’s a problem. We often describe those kinds of people as being arrogant.
Love suffocates in that kind of mindset. Love has so much to do with others, and if we are stuck on thoughts of ourselves, how great we are, and how others are so below us – love ceases.
The last part of verse 4 from 1 Corinthians 13 from the Amplified Bible reads,
…love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. AMP
Another poignant verse is found in Proverbs 16:18, which says,
Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. NLT
When we begin to feel that we are the only ones worthy to stand, we lose the support of others, so much so that we fall…and fall hard. If we go too far down that trail, we can even lose God’s support.
“The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34 (Septuagint Bible)*
And that, my friend, is most definitely dangerous territory. Lord Jesus, may we guard our hearts from excessive pride. Amen.
*An ancient translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek
Dec 21st, 2023, Thurs, 7:22 pm
Love Like My Father
Father, I am surely blessed! I have friends in so many places, and I’m glad that where I currently work is no exception. Please bless those around me, and if I can be a conduit of that blessing, use me! Amen!
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Earlier this week, I stepped into our elementary school between routes and saw a boy who has ridden my bus a couple of times this year but regularly gets on and off at a family member’s house. I’ve had to correct him a few times when he’s been on my bus, but it has never been anything crazy out of line. It’s the usual – sit down, stay out of the aisle, don’t play over the seats, please. I do that with many of my kids.
When he saw me, he stopped, turned around, and hugged me. In his short conversation with me, in a roundabout way, he acknowledged he wasn’t the most obedient kid around and that he was doing better, and that I would be amazed at how much he’d improved in his behavior. I encouraged him and said that I hoped that I’d see him soon.
What registered in my heart and mind was that I didn’t think he was that bad of a kid. Yeah, he’s a boy through and through, but that doesn’t make him a bad kid. He is full of energy (most boys are!), but that doesn’t make him a bad kid. He gets excited and probably reacts quickly in certain situations, and more than likely, those reactions aren’t always the wisest…but even that doesn’t make him a bad kid.
My heart went out to him because, without really saying such, he was apologizing to me for being bad and, oddly enough, sounded like he was hoping I would give him a second chance because, for some reason, he felt like he’d let me down.
I have no idea what bus he rides, but I am eager to have him ride my bus again, to assure him that he’s a good and loved kid.
Lord Jesus, I come before You asking…well…asking that You would help me to be quick to love and not so quick to judge or label or to hold to too high of a standard. I honestly don’t think I did that with this child, but I may have done so with others.
As You well know, I have been going through 1 Corinthians 13 – and really, I’ve just gotten started, but I acknowledge that love must permeate my heart, soul, and mind in my interactions with everyone!
Looking into this boy’s eyes and seeing the longing in them – longing for love and acceptance – really took hold of my heart.
Father, how many times have I stood before You like this boy stood before me? I know I can do better, and I really want to, but sometimes I’m as human as human can get. Sometimes, my energies are directed in areas that are not best for me, and I react toward things in not the wisest of ways. I, too, have longed for love and acceptance…and with You, that is what I get. Every. Single. Time.
May I be like my Father. Amen.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:7-12 NLT
Dec 20th, 2023, Wed, 7:48 pm
We Need Spiritual Heart Transplants
Two matters of great importance lay heavy on my heart today, Father. I am so grateful that both of them were no surprise to You. I lay them in Your surpassingly capable hands. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:4c (<<click here to read the passage)
Love…is not jealous or envious… AMP
Love is complicated, isn’t it? A significant factor in our inability to love is the fact that we have not been loved enough ourselves.
Speaking with a friend the other day, it came up that her daughter was regularly being berated by another girl in her grade level. Mom told her that the antagonist was being nasty because she was broken. The other girl wasn’t expressing any love whatsoever because she probably had minimal reserves. She was perhaps loved to a certain degree, but not nearly deeply or often enough. And her nastiness is nothing like love because it is driven by jealousy and envy…and those are not love.
This past spring, we had trouble starting our mower. Long story short, we had to have the carburetor replaced. The mechanic who serviced it said that our gas contained ethanol. Ethanol is derived from corn. It is blended with gasoline to improve air quality, engine performance, and environmental impact. The problem was that we had repeatedly let it sit in the mower over several winters, and the ethanol began to dissolve the rubber gaskets in the carburetor. He recommended filling it with gasoline with no ethanol (much more expensive, by the way!), mowing with that toward the end of the season, and then letting that sit in the tank through the winter months.
Our lives are like that. It may not be easy to think this way, but love is what keeps us moving…it is our motivator. There are times when the love we receive is in short supply. Other times, other things are added to the love we receive. They may be a means of stretching the love to make it go further. But if that’s all we have to live on, it begins to take a toll on us. Over a period of time, it breaks us down until, eventually, we are broken.
Our hearts of stone just can’t take it… And just like our carburetor had to be replaced, so do our hearts.
The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart [a heart of flesh.] Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
Lord Jesus, enable our love not to be jealous or envious but give us new hearts, we pray, that are tender and responsive to You. Amen.
Dec 19th, 2023, Tues, 12:41 pm