Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Written by Laurie Jones | Deacon
These four verses on love written by Paul in a letter to the church in Corinth are some of the most recognizable in the New Testament, used in wedding vows and decorative wall art. How can we read them anew and differently this Lenten season? That was my reflection for this daily devotional. Read them again - and fully absorb how God has loved us with the ultimate gift - his earthly form - his Son, Jesus. What are the new and fresh ways we can love those people in our life that are the most challenging. Erase for a moment the collection of these verses commandeered for commercialized romance. And see them as a call to love the most difficult and hard situations. Work and home relationships - family - neighbors - adversaries - maybe even yourself. Do you love yourself unconditionally? Paul’s words here follow a “yes this - not that” format to call out our flawed human love that is impure in its natural state. If we can comprehend and fathom the depths of God’s love for us - so enveloping in its vast reach - and manifested in the life and death of Jesus during our calendar holiday of Easter - then we commit ourselves to living closer to God’s plan through love. Undeserving as we may be of his love - so too might those seem who are in most need of our love in our daily lives.
Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to love those who are the hardest to love today and every day. Amen.