This week I watched a few Vacation Bible School classes from a church of Christ in Ohio. The lessons were put together well and revealed a lot to me about the way we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The lesson made me think of 1 Corinthians 13 – a chapter that is well known for its emphasis on love.
The truth is that when I read 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 I feel a little intimidated. I feel intimidated because it nails down the proper way to love so completely that it almost seems unattainable. Here is the section that intimidates me most (if only we could get all of these perfect!):
1Co 13:4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
1Co 13:6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
1Co 13:7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Can you imagine always being supremely patient and kind and never being prideful or arrogant? Can you imagine never being rude, resentful, or irritable? Can you imagine never rejoicing in wrongdoing, but always rejoicing in truth? Can you imagine always bearing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things (with a good attitude)?
Well, actually, we can all probably imagine doing all of these things some of the time – and we all can probably pick out which of those things we are best at (and sadly which of them we are worst at as well). However, can you imagine doing all of these things all of the time? Can you even imagine doing all of these things most of the time?
I would say that most people do some of these things some of the time, but very few do all of these things most of the time. To expand further I know that nobody does all of these things all of the time (sorry for the tongue twisters there).
The thing that we should remember (and the thing that should make us feel better) is that we don’t have to perfect our loving ability right from the get-go. There was only one man that did all of the aforementioned things all of the time, and that was our Savior Jesus Christ.
So, does that mean we should just let ourselves off the hook? I mean obviously we are not Jesus. Are we are all just imperfect sinners that shouldn’t even try to improve our ability to love? No, I believe we should take Paul’s words and work consistently to improve in our ability to love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can never be perfect in our ability to love but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be better at it each and every day.
During the last year many nerves have been tried and many emotions have been pushed to their limits. Politics. Pandemics. Riots. You name it. So, I think it is a good time to take inventory of our ability to love each other Biblically (imperfections and all).
If you have time to sit down and read 1 Corinthians 13 this week I would highly recommend it. This chapter provides a clear and concise outline of the way God wants us to love each other as the body of Christ. Enhancing our ability to love Biblically will not only serve to strengthen us individually, but it will serve to strengthen the unity of the church as well.