Hey! I have been meaning to put this onto a blog since last Wednesday, but I haven't really had the chance since school and all. Here's the deal: I went to youth group last Wednesday, and my youth leader really drove home a point. It has been put on my heart, and I felt like I needed to put this on the blog.... :) I know that most or all of you who are reading this are probably familiar with 1 Corinthians 13. That's right. The LOVE chapter. (It's actually where Liel and I got the name of this blog from ;)...) Of course, I've always read it and been like, "yeah well love, uhuh.... I get it. I need love in my life, and well... yeah..." But hearing God speak through Mr. Billy (my youth leader), it just brought a whole new perspective on this chapter.
Chapter 13 starts off saying, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal." Think about what UT's football stadium sounds like when we score a touchdown, or if we were to win a game against Florida. (By the way, that would be LOVELY!) It is a huge roar. Or think about a whole bunch of people yelling because they're mad. If you weren't part of the noise, or even if you were, it would be pretty obnoxious to listen to, huh? It makes you want to plug your ears. Well, if we are speaking in tongues or ministering to people, and we don't have love, then that's how we sound to God; like a loud, obnoxious, annoying noise. It's sad to think about; I don't ever want to sound annoying to God so that He would want to plug His ears.
Verse 2 says, "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge...". Let's stop right there. If someone has the gift of prophecy, what does that mean? It means that you can know what's going to happen in the future. But also take note, in the Old Testament, if you were a prophet and you didn't speak the exact words of God, or receive a direct revelation from God, and you said that it was true, then you were executed. This means, that you would have had to have heard from God Himself. So if you were in tune with God, knew the future; the next part of the verse says, "understand all mysteries and all knowledge". It's saying that you know everything! You're a braniac, you can know the future, and you understand all the "mysteries" of the past. BUT, here's the thing, if you don't have LOVE, it profits you NOTHING. The verse goes on to say, "and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Faith that can remove mountains??? That's a lot of faith. And I can sure say that that's hard to have. If we had it, but didn't love, we are nothing,... nothing!
"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor..." If we sell everything we have, and give all the money away for a good cause, it profits us nothing. "If I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing". Really think about it. IF YOU GIVE YOURSELF TO BE A MARTYR, if you die for a cause, but don't have love, then IT'S ALL FOR NOTHING! It takes a LOT to even sacrifice your will or what you want to do for somebody. But to say, "I will DIE for my cause", if you're willing to sacrifice your whole life, but you do not have love, guys, it's ALL FOR NOTHING! What you really just did then was die. Nothing more, nothing less. You didn't receive any reward for it, it was all for nothing.
Verse 4, "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." Love is not jealous. Love is not prideful. It doesn't think of ways to get people's attention on you. It is not boastful. Love does not behave rudely; it doesn't yell at your sibling, it does not tell them that they are annoying and to shut up. This is really challenging. I have been struggling with the same types of things. God really convicted my heart with how I had been responding to my brother. "Love does not behave rudely, it does not seek its own, it's not provoked, thinks no evil..." Man....... When the Lord want to speak to you, He cuts deep to the heart... "Love does not rejoice in sin, but rejoices when the truth is spoken." When I think of that verse, it brings to mind someone who will just speak the truth, not with malice, but solely the truth. And when they speak it, if they are right with the Lord, then they will speak it in love, not pride, not for attention, but just in love. The Kathy family who owns Chick-fil-A, comes to my mind. We should be praying for them daily as they continue to make their stand, and are persecuted for stating the truth.
"Love never fails." That is self-explanatory, powerful. Love will NEVER fail. Even when the person is jumping on your last nerve, and you've had it with them. It doesn't stop loving the person who hates you. It never fails. "But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away." The verse is saying that all these things are going to pass away, they won't exist anymore. These things are mortal. When the earth is destroyed, the worldly form of these things will be done away with. I love the next couple of verses. Verse 9 says, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away." Right now, we have limits to what we can know. That's easy to understand. The verse says that "when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away." Jesus has already come. He is the perfect one. And He is perfecting us as we walk in our journey with Him. But when His kingdom comes, when He takes us up to heaven with Him, then what we have here on earth, it will all be gone. The Bible says that the earth will be destroyed with fire and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. What we can know now is only "in part". It's only just a glimpse, but when we get to heaven, we can all see everything, and the veil will be removed.
Verses 11-12, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." It's true, Paul is saying that when we're children, we can only understand as a child can. But when the time comes, we put away that old life, and put on the new. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face." Mr. Billy was saying that mirrors in those days were not the ones that we have today. What they had for mirrors was only just a polished bronze, that they could look and see what they thought was a reflection of themselves. Little did they know, it wasn't anything like what they really looked like. This really makes this point even clearer. We can know things now, but what things really are, is not anything like we think it is. "For we know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." We need to make sure that the lives that we are living are matching up to God's standard, because when we get to heaven, verse 12 says that we will "know just as I also am known". This is our chance to make our own choices in life, to choose to live for Him, and to enhance our relationship with Him. Why not make it as good as we possibly can so that when we are known, it won't be a shameful thing.
And finally, verse 13 says, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Love. That's all we need. This chapter makes it clear that love is what we really need, it's what needs to be in all that we do. My youth leader closed us off by giving us this paper, that had some words on it. (duh...) These words are familiar to many, but are really challenging. It's from a song. And I'll type them out. Take the song out of your head, and just read the words like you have never heard the song before. It goes like this,
Sometimes I think what will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory, when I'm home where my soul belongs
Was I love when no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those, was my worship more than just a song?
I want to live like that, and give it all I have
So that everything I say and do points to You
If love is who I am, then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned, never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
Am I proof that You are who You say You are,
That grace can really change a heart, do I live like Your love is true
People pass and even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed, when they see me, do they see You
I want to live like that, and give it all I have
So that everything I say and do points to You
If love is who I am, then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned, never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King
I want to live like that, and give it all I have
So that everything I say and do points to You
If love is who I am, then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned, never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
And so as my youth leader said, I want to challenge you in your walk with the Lord. Are you walking like you should be? Do you have love in your life? Can people see that love? Because if you really want to make a change in this world for Jesus, it all starts with YOU living it.
God bless you all. Jesus loves YOU! Don't be afraid to call on Him for help. Have a great day.
Your sister in Christ,
Mikaela
