This Sunday, January 29 is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.
Verse of the Epiphany Season:
This week’s sermon is Blessed
This week’s readings are:
Love: 1 Corinthians 13
This is one of the most famous
passages of the Bible.
People
love it for weddings.
Technically,
that is not the kind of love spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13.
Not to say this kind of love isn’t an important part of marriage!
The problem is we mean so many
different things by this word “love.”
I
love my wife.
I
love pizza.
I
love baseball.
I
love my kids.
Are
these the same thing?
This is part of our problem as sinful people – disordered love.
The type of love in 1 Corinthians
13 is agape.
1 John 4 – God is love.
This passage is a description of God’s love, which we’ve received in Jesus and shapes the way we love others.
There is a lot there.
Love
is firm and forgiving.
It
is not focused on the self, but on others.
It
longs for God’s best and His will in our lives and the lives of others.
Intolerant
of sin while still embracing sinners.
It
is rooted in God’s character – reflecting his grace.
Faith
– Hope – Love
This
describes the Holy Spirit’s work in us to believe, have hope in, and respond to
God’s love.
When I read this passage there are two
things that really grab me:
First,
this is how God loves us.
Second,
if this is how God loves us, wouldn’t it be great if we loved the world this
perfectly.
And
when we know we don’t measure up – go back to the first point!
Comments