(this is an interesting link, btw)
4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth [1] not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil....
Tomorrow being "Valentine's Day" I was musing about the Love (Agape or Charity) chapter.
Love is the opposite (according to 1st Corinthians 13) of the self-love that our flesh desires. Love looks out for others to the setting aside of our own wishes. It is the kind of caring that parents have for their children, who would themselves go without food when there is scarcity so their children will have food to eat. It is the kind of caring that Jesus had for us by setting His own life aside on the cross, so that we might be saved.
The world tries to tell us (wrongly) that in order to love others we must first love ourselves. That is NOT what the Bible says at all. That we are to love others as ourselves is not putting ourselves first. We naturally desire to put ourselves first, so loving myself does not require any training prior to caring for others (to be honest here, I am very naturally inclined to be self-serving and concerned that others are getting a bigger portion than myself, and say this to my dismay and shame) . I was pondering this very thing today while musing about what has been bothering me about the sequence of events at my place of employment over the past couple of years...(yes, I am STILL thinking about THAT, sheesh) and the fact is, I have told a few people that I felt I could trust about my hurt and my anger, and gossiped about things that I should have kept to myself between me and the Lord. Sigh.
I continually see how I do not measure up to God's standard of LOVE, the kind of love He has for us. I am truly amazed that He loves me that much, and am humbled and shamed about my own selfishness and vaunting of myself before others.
Wow, Susan...this fits in with the word study I did on Agape in 2 Peter 1:7 today! It added that love does what's BEST for the beloved, which may not necessarily be what the beloved wants.
ReplyDelete:) I'll check it out, DebbieLynne I LOVE reading your blog :D
ReplyDeleteThe love chapter has been giving me quite an insight into God's character, too. Even our "agape" as parents is so very imperfect, we don't give our children a stone when they ask for bread. But Father IS perfect, so how much more can we trust Him?
ReplyDeleteHi Ma, and so true!
Delete