Mylanta Darlings

Good morning,

So here we are at 1 Corinthians 13, what the apostle Paul called at the end of chapter 12 "a more excellent way".  He urges us in verses 1-3 to give love the preeminence.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

In other words, instead of fixating on this spiritual gift or that one, focus on love. After all, Jesus said, "by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

Whole books have been written about this one chapter of the Bible!  There is so much wisdom here. This chapter is ultra-important because "love" is often misunderstood and the term so frequently misapplied.  Fortunately, if you wonder "Is this love?", you can measure it by the standard in 1 Cor. 13.

This past week a group from my church was involved in sharing love with a young person, although she did not recognize it as such.  There are times when love does not seem .... well, "loving".  Love does not rejoice in sin or unrighteousness (vs. 6).  Instead, love seeks the truth, promotes the truth, speaks the truth.  Sometimes, that is not well-received.  There are times when, "love must be tough".  Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, wrote a landmark book with this very title.

Tough love is not legalism or self-righteous condemnation of another.  Rather, it is knowing the right way and urging, exhorting others to walk in it.   One of the reasons this is so unpopular today is that truth and love are inexorably linked!  One cannot exist without the other. Yet, in our American culture, it is deemed impolite to take a stand for truth.  "How dare you tell me how to live my life?!" is the mantra of modern American culture.

In response to this, we who know the Truth, we the Light-Bearers, we the Salt of the Earth frequently cower and shrink and back-pedal our testimony.  That is not love, Friends.  That is spiritual cowardice.

Of course, we must be sensitive to the Spirit in how we communicate Jesus Christ's exclusive message of love and truth.  We must not run rough-shod over people and piously proclaim, "Well, you certainly needed to hear THAT!"  No, that is not the Christian way either.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails;

Nothing challenges our belief in love more keenly than our closest personal relationships - - - our family.  Nothing has tested my understanding of love as much as being a mother of two rowdy, headstrong boys.  My husband is easy to love; he is a dream!  That is because he is one of the most unselfish, loving people I have ever known.  My teenage boys, on the other hand ... "Oh Mylanta!", as the saying goes!  Pass the antacid!

We all, at some time, have a Mylanta Darlin' in our lives.

Bears all things,

Believes all things,

Hopes all things,

Endures all things,

Love never fails.

Isn't that how God deals with us, His children?  Oh, the beauty of His perfect love, His agape love!  I figure I'm His "Mylanta Darlin'" each and every day.  Still, at the moment the foundations of the world were laid, He made the decision to pour Himself out for me, broken and spilled out, dead, buried and resurrected, and now reigning with the Father....all for me.  He calls me to pour myself out for others in that same way.

"By THIS all men will know"....

Loving Heavenly Father, you KNOW that I have not mastered this.  Please forgive me for how often I fall short, especially in the area of "believing all things" that are true, in holding fast to Your faithful promises.  Give me that perfect love, that love that never fails, so that "all men will know".  In Jesus' name, amen.