And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13, NKJV).
Love. Has there ever been a more overused word—or a more needed response to life? We proclaim our love for everything from ice cream to our spouse, but seldom think of the power behind that word.
Why does 1 Corinthians tell us that love is greater than faith or hope? Because once we leave this earth and dwell in the presence of God, faith and hope will no longer be necessary. We will at last be able to see the One who was the object of our faith and hope throughout our earthly sojourn, so faith and hope will have been fully and completely realized when we step into eternity. We will no longer have to have faith in or hope for that which we cannot see, for we will be in His presence.
Love, however, endures forever because God Himself is love. The purest and deepest form of love can only be found in God. True, there is a love based in emotion that we experience in our everyday lives, but selfless love can be found nowhere but in the Person of the One whom the Scriptures declare IS love. And that, beloved, is where those of us who have been born into God’s family will spend forever.
Amazing grace indeed! Now, today, abide faith, hope, and love. But when faith and hope have been fulfilled, God’s love will continue on. That’s why we call it heaven!
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Perfect Love...
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
Tomorrow is 9/11—an infamous day that the vast majority of us will never forget. Much like those who were alive on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we remember where we were that morning in September when we heard the news that our beloved country was under attack. As the hours passed, we soon learned the extent of human loss, and we grieved, as we still do at the memory of that horrific occurrence.
Eight years later, we still grieve, though the pain has diminished with time, as it does in the aftermath of most tragedies. But the lessons of that day remain. Though God has promised to keep us in “perfect peace” if we will focus our hearts and minds on Him and His faithfulness, He has not promised that we will not experience difficult times. We live in a broken world, full of broken promises and broken hearts. We also live in a world that is, to a large extent, driven by fear—whether it be fear of the known, or the unknown.
Despite the fact that we have picked up the pieces and moved on with our lives since that horrifying day in September 2001, we cannot deny that we will never be quite the same as we were before those planes full of innocent people were flown into buildings, bringing death and destruction on a monumental level. And that’s as it should be. We need to learn from such watershed events and never return to the complacency that helped allow them to happen in the first place. But even as we take a permanent stance of vigilance against future attacks, we must take a stance of vigilance against allowing fear of the future to paralyze us from walking in the freedom and joy that is inherent in walking with our Resurrected Savior.
Jesus Christ defeated death. He didn’t go around it or over it, or avoid it in any way. He met it head-on—and came through triumphant on the other side, leaving an empty tomb as testimony of His great victory. That is Perfect Love, folks—a perfect love that overcomes death and promises to one day carry us through that inevitable experience as well.
As we rightfully remember and honor those who died on 9/11, may we also keep our hearts and minds focused on the One who is greater than any tragedy that comes our way. For as Romans 8:31 declares, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
May you all walk in the joy and freedom of the Perfect Love that casts out all fear!
Tomorrow is 9/11—an infamous day that the vast majority of us will never forget. Much like those who were alive on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we remember where we were that morning in September when we heard the news that our beloved country was under attack. As the hours passed, we soon learned the extent of human loss, and we grieved, as we still do at the memory of that horrific occurrence.
Eight years later, we still grieve, though the pain has diminished with time, as it does in the aftermath of most tragedies. But the lessons of that day remain. Though God has promised to keep us in “perfect peace” if we will focus our hearts and minds on Him and His faithfulness, He has not promised that we will not experience difficult times. We live in a broken world, full of broken promises and broken hearts. We also live in a world that is, to a large extent, driven by fear—whether it be fear of the known, or the unknown.
Despite the fact that we have picked up the pieces and moved on with our lives since that horrifying day in September 2001, we cannot deny that we will never be quite the same as we were before those planes full of innocent people were flown into buildings, bringing death and destruction on a monumental level. And that’s as it should be. We need to learn from such watershed events and never return to the complacency that helped allow them to happen in the first place. But even as we take a permanent stance of vigilance against future attacks, we must take a stance of vigilance against allowing fear of the future to paralyze us from walking in the freedom and joy that is inherent in walking with our Resurrected Savior.
Jesus Christ defeated death. He didn’t go around it or over it, or avoid it in any way. He met it head-on—and came through triumphant on the other side, leaving an empty tomb as testimony of His great victory. That is Perfect Love, folks—a perfect love that overcomes death and promises to one day carry us through that inevitable experience as well.
As we rightfully remember and honor those who died on 9/11, may we also keep our hearts and minds focused on the One who is greater than any tragedy that comes our way. For as Romans 8:31 declares, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
May you all walk in the joy and freedom of the Perfect Love that casts out all fear!
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