Sunday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 1-3
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13 1
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Devotion:
I had to think this one through for quite a while before I could put pen to paper even though I had used this briefly in a lesson just yesterday. Why? Because sometimes God’s Word stirs up some emotions inside that you have to allow to come to the surface, work out and then let God explain them to you again. It is no use shutting things out just because you don’t want to hear them or see them. Of all the things that God has given us, love is the one thing that stands out more than anything else as the essential core of how He made us.
We can come up with all sorts of reasons of why people are successful and we can come up with all manner of equations that will show the path to success and the formula that we should live by; but when you leave out love, then it is all vanity. We can see some people being listed as being so successful, even touted as the richest people in the world, but without that love in their lives, the lives are as empty as a tramp living on the streets!
How can I say something like that? Well, I like to think that I have been lucky enough to experience quite a few facets of life as most people will see things and the only thing that stands out is the love that I have been fortunate enough to be able to experience along the way. Without that love, those experiences would simply be experiences and nothing more. But God has given us that very special thing called love and that is something that I would like to focus on this week – the love that He has given us.
Quite rightly we are shown here that no matter what we are able to achieve in our lives, if we are not willing to take love with us, then we fall very short of God’s will and His way in our lives. It was Christ who reminded us that we need to love others and it was His display of love that showed us just how serious He is about that love. I like the way that it is described here – that life should be as useless as a cymbal being bashed over and over again if we were to try to live it without love. But not to stop there, the author continues to remind us that no amount of religion, knowledge, wisdom, blind faith or earthly charity will ever make up for not having love. Love is the one thing that will always make me smile when all else breaks down. Love is the one thing that allows me to live for Christ and take His name and His Word wherever I go. For that, I praise His Holy Name!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are successful?
Do you take true love with you?
Saturday Reading: Romans 12 9-16
Key Verse: Romans 12 10
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Devotion:
When I started on the differences between men and women a couple of weeks back, I had no idea that we would end up digging deeper into love once again; so I am going to round off this section about love with these familiar verses that all people, not just Christians, really need to get to grips with! Love needs to be sincere. After getting to know that love that Christ has shown me, the trueness and the completeness of that love, I cannot understand how we could ever get it so wrong... but then you only have to look around you to figure out that man has corrupted this thing called love.
Man is the one who has taken this single and most beautiful thing and turned it on its head. Man has taken a pure thing and corrupted it with all manner of deceitful and loathsome things. I love to be able to see the pure and innocent love in young children because it reminds me of the love that we should have towards others. As a youth leader I struggle with people who do not show love towards children and I also find it impossible to turn my back on children. Yes there was a stage in my life when I was more of the opinion that children should be seen and not heard but how can that be showing love to all when we section off those who need to know it most?
If we say that we love someone or that we love some people, then we should be willing to prove that love by expressing it toward them. That expression of love does not have to be an ‘earthly expression of love’. Many people today will describe the lust they have rather than the love they have. Many people will follow that lust and try to make a relationship work within that field of lust. How can we expect to build up a true relationship based on a corrupt thing to start with? Love is pure and honest and without deceit; any relationship should be built up in purity, in honesty and without deceit.
To a large extent, I think the last few weeks have been an expression of what God has taught me over the past few years. I have long struggled with love and how to deal with feelings and over this last decade (mostly these last few years) God has shown me so much more about love by bringing people into my life that have allowed me to separate man’s view of the world and His view. The most important thing I think I have been taught is that love is so very real and pure that it needs to be treated with absolute respect and nurtured more than anything in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
How do you view love?
How well do you treat God’s love?
Friday Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5 12-15
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5 14
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
Devotion:
There is always a side of love that man does not like to think about – not just men but humans in general. That part of love that we don’t like to be reminded about is ‘responsibility’. Not only do we have to display our love through what we do and can do but we also need to be ‘man’ enough to stand up and say when something is wrong. This is very often a hard pill to swallow because we don’t ever like to be told that we are wrong! Just think about your past and think what you may have turned out to be like if you were never told that anything was wrong. If you were never given any rules to live by or were never told when you broke those rules... how would you ever be able to know that there are consequences for breaking rules?
If we do love someone then we must be willing to tell them when they do go astray or when they do make mistakes. We must be willing to put aside our pride and put aside their pride and make the truth known. It is not always going to be the case that the strongest have to make a stance against the weakest because even the strongest amongst us will make mistakes. When someone we look up to makes a mistake we should be able to make it known to them that they have made a mistake. That does not mean that we need to publish it on Facebook or broadcast it to the world through any other media; what it means is that we must be willing to approach them personally and allow them to know that you think that have made a mistake. Allow them to admit their mistake and don’t try to force it out of them because God has given them a free will as well.
The other side of the coin is that there are always going to be people that will look to you for strength and for an example. For those people we need to remain firm and consistent so that they may learn through example. We have all had people in our lives that have been examples for us to follow. Even if you are the most unlucky person in the world you still have an example through Christ. Thankfully I have had many people in my life that have been fantastic examples to me, and yes it has taken me a long while to realise that!
If we aim to serve God it is not just going to be through being a preacher, teacher or servant in the church that we do that; serving God means being more willing to do His will in our lives for His sake. That means taking His love with us and sharing that same love that Christ was willing to share. That means standing up for the righteous!
Points to Ponder:
Do you correct others in love?
Do you listen to God trying to correct you?
Thursday Reading: Philippians 2 4-8
Key Verse: Philippians 2 4
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Devotion:
You may have guessed that I think that this is one of the most important parts of life to me... But then I have a wonderful Counsellor and King who has taught me well and one whom I try to follow. I know that I get things wrong and I know that I have done many things wrong in the past, but it is not to the past that I look but into the future that I look. The past has gone; the future is in front of us. That does not mean we just forget about the past because without it we would not have an example – so let us not cast aside the past, just not try to dwell on it.
Dwelling on our past mistakes and wrongs will do nothing to encourage us along our walk with Christ. But being able to see the past and recognise all the wonderful things that have happened will. So separating the right and wrong in our past, learning from those differences and applying what we learn to our future is what is going to help us along the way. But if we are just starting out in our walk with Christ, then what real past do we have to learn from seeing that everything is new? The answer to that is in God’s Word. We have a remarkable history through so many ages, so many differences, so many people, so many circumstances and so many examples of love and hatred that we should never cast it aside. God’s Word is here for us to learn from and to allow us to apply what we learn into our futures.
Christ gave us so many examples of what we should do that we need to stop and take notice. He did not have to have any relationship with a woman in order to display His love. He did not have to go there just to spell things out for us because the love that He has shown us is universal to all. In other words the love that He wants us to have should also be universal and not just to those one of two people we think deserve it!
That is where I praise my Lord and King again, for giving me a heart through which I can love others; He allows me to love others without having to go down the earthly ways of testing to see if it is real. I know my love is real and that is good enough for me because I know that God’s love is real towards us. I do know that I have made my fair share is mistakes in the past and I certainly try to learn from them but I am not hung up in making those mistakes haunt me – yes they have in the past, but through some very special people in my life I have learned more about God’s love than I have ever thought possible. To those very special people – I love you and I hope I show you that through what I do...
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you display love?
Are you displaying Christ’s love through what you do?
Wednesday Reading: John 13 1-17
Key Verse: John 13 17
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Devotion:
Besides going to the cross for us all, I think this is one of those moments in Christ’s life that I like to think of or relate to. The love that He showed to the disciples, even to the one He knew would betray Him, was laid out before them so that they could recognise it and accept it. How every one of the disciples reacted to this display of love is not recorded, but we are given a glimpse of Simon Peter’s reaction.
Simon Peter did not want to accept that Christ could act like a servant to them because He wanted his Master to be lifted up. But once Jesus had said that they would not have any part of Him unless they were washed, he wanted his whole body to be washed instead of just his feet. Jesus was not trying to show how much He loved them at this stage but simply to give them insight into how love is shown to others. Love is something that should not have boundaries or limits on servitude; if you love someone then you should be willing to do anything righteous for them. Note that I did add righteous in there!
So many people nowadays expect people to do ‘anything’ for them if they love them. Yes we can say that love should be without limits, but if we start to ask something from someone that they should not accept, something that you know they should not accept, then are we not being spiteful in asking that of them in the first place? Demanding something from someone when you know they should not go there is certainly not, in my books, showing love to them. Christ was willing to do this to the disciples to show them that they should be willing to go out and be servants to others in Christian love.
Loving someone means that you should be willing to let go of your pride, put aside your haughtiness, break down boundaries and show the other person that you are willing to be there for them as long as Christ is going to allow it to be so. Love should not be measured by being there for someone ‘no matter what’ but rather by ‘what God should allow’. I say what God should allow and not what He will allow because we are not automatons – we have free will. If we choose to do wrong, we have that choice. It does not mean it is right; we just do have that choice. Christ chose to do what was right. We need to do what is right. Showing you love someone by being willing to be servant to them is just one more step along the road to a successful relationship... and it is not a short 12 disciple dash but a lifetime of willingness...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like doing things for others?
How much do you do for Christ?