1 Corinthians 13
“And I will show you a still more
excellent way,” Paul says, and he starts talking about love.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
been asked to include this reading in weddings, although, this reading is not
about marriage, and it is certainly not about romance! No, this is about the love
known as agape (a-gop-eh) to be precise. And while we certainly desire for
agape to part of marriage, this love is much more than the love we think of
between a bride and a groom.
The Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament has forty-six pages dedicated to this one word. I think that
testifies to the profundity of what Paul writes here. And it makes sense that
defining this word should not be easy, after all, 1 John 4:8 says, “God is
agape.”
This love is the pure selfless love that
God pours out on us. This is the love that inspired Jesus to die in our place. This
is the love that moved God to give us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. This
love changes us.
Often we base our relationship with God
on our performance – speaking in tongues, prophetic powers, knowledge,
understanding, deep faith, generosity, or courage – but Paul says that without
love it’s all worthless. Our relationship with God really roots in His love for
us. This is where it all begins; God looked out from eternity on wayward
rebellious children (you and me) and loved us.
Someday we’re going to know this love
perfectly. It’s going to rock our world. In fact, it will be the beginning of a
new world when we are in heaven and we get to fully know even as we are fully
known. Until then, we receive reminders of God’s love and He bountifully pours
it out on us in the Word and Sacraments. We are rooted in that love and it
overflow through us to others.
Someday, we’ll be able to love perfectly
like God loves us – not because we try hard, but because we’ve been so well
loved. And in this life that love overflows from us to our neighbors so that
they can know God’s love through us.
Lord, help me to love others the way you
love me. Amen.
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