Love Transcending
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1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
The kind of love referred to in these verses is not the kind of love we have for our favorite food, for a prized possession, for a spouse or parent, or even for a child. This love is the type that transcends all other love and even more than that. This love transcends hurt and betrayal, rejection and shunning, sorrow and pain. This love banishes revenge. This love survives and even thrives in the face of adversity and hardship. This love is stronger and deeper and more powerful than that moment you realize you are not capable of this kind of love. That is, not without Christ.
I would guess that every one of us has been hurt, betrayed, shunned or rejected—or perhaps you’ve experienced all of these. This could have happened in a work setting, at school, within your family or your church. Perhaps a friendship or a marriage has ended. Those are all certainly valid human reasons to want revenge or retribution. We can all relate to the emotions and thoughts that run through our minds in those situations. But love—Christ-like love—replaces any thoughts of hatred, any desire for revenge, any acts of retribution.
A dear friend and former Sunday school teacher would challenge us to go deeper—to take another look at these verses in view of our everyday life. He would suggest that even getting angry at someone cutting us off in traffic or cutting in front of us in line denies this kind of love. He would contend that unless we banish all anger, all gossip, all contempt, any thought or action that is other than love, we are not living within the love of Christ.
That’s kind of hard to swallow—because it is so very convicting. If we look at our lives, we must admit we spend a good deal of our time living counter to Christ-like love. Jesus said when someone slaps you on the cheek offer them the other one as well. That’s so counter to how we live, to human nature. These words also apply to the smaller insults and offenses as well, though. The thing is, holding all these emotions in our hearts depletes our energy and weighs us down. It prevents us from moving on with our lives.
When I conducted a search of the New Testament on bibleverses.com on the word “love” it yielded 186 results. Dictionary.com provides 16 definitions for love and goes on to provide many examples and idioms for a total of 28 entries. There is only one definition that matters: Jesus Christ. There is only one way to live: lay all our burdens and hurts at the foot of His Cross. Live into love. Live within love.
My prayer today is that you immerse yourself in the healing love of Jesus Christ. And that you offer His love to everyone in your life.
Mary
