Read: 1 Corinthians 13
As I said in last week’s devo, love has confused by the media. That’s why we discourage you from dating, because many of you don’t have the correct view of love. What you see on TV and chick flicks may be oh-so sweet, but don’t deceive yourselves. Stanley Hauerwas once said about love, “How do I know that my wife and I love each other? Because for 40 years, through what we’ve been through, we’re still committed to each other.” Oh, be still, my beating heart! That, my friends, is true love. But St. Paul wrote a soaring tribute to love in 1 Corinthians 13 that, if you read it well, would drive you to tears! Go ahead - read it out loud, and let your spirit soar!
Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
True love is an unflagging commitment to the well-being of others, no matter what happens. Some of you know the Ted Haggard scandal. Haggard is one of the most prominent evangelical pastors in the world, but was caught having sex with another man. But the hero of this entire thing was his wife, who after much prayer, decided to stay with Ted, and heal their marriage.
But Paul goes on. Love never fails. Where there are prophecies they will cease, because true love stays intact, no matter what happens in the future. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled, because true love cannot be described. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away because true love is incomprehensible. But ultimately, true love unites. It reconciles. It lifts everyone up.
So beautiful is love, only God defines it! And he defined it on the Cross to ransom souls from sin. So much did God love us, that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins, for God did not seek to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. What a fellowship, what a joy, divine!
The media tells you that dating is a beautiful thing because you discover your “true love”. Hah! What a joke, because that’s absolute dung, because true love is selfless. True love motivates someone to look at a half-dead bony 2-year old dying of hunger in the streets of Calcutta, and say, “I will do something about it!”
At a church I went to many, many years ago, there was a single woman who adopted two children: Shang-wen, who was severely-retarded, and one with heart trouble. She could’ve adopted two healthy kids, but no - she choose to adopt Shang-wen and his brother. I know Shang-wen, because we all loved Shang-wen, but we couldn’t come close to his mom. Indeed, his mom understood true love.
Imagine a place where everyone cares for each other, lifts each other up, goes head over heels just for each other! Imagine a place where the retarded, the half-dead, the poor, the sick, the deaf, the blind, the Blacks, the Latinos, can all be fed and loved. That’s what the Church is supposed to be!
But I must be honest with you, I’ve not met a church that truly loves. Oh yes, there are people in the churches who truly love, but a few people out of many don’t make up a church. Is there any surprise, then, that so many Christians are finding love in all the wrong places? If they can’t find love in the Church, where else, pray tell, are they supposed to find it?
So let’s be brutally honest with ourselves right now. Are we true lovers? Is WCAC a church that truly loves? Pray about it.
Wednesday: Pray for friends
Pray for your friend’s busy-ness and that they will look to God for strength
