Happy February Baysiders! Hopefully you all have enjoyed the rain so far this year. Its always good to see God’s good green earth get hydrated.
It’s no secret that the month of February hosts the day of love in the year, Valentine’s Day. It seem like retailers start selling kisses and chocolate hearts the day after Christmas. Love, love, love, love is everywhere. The radio has their love songs playing on repeat, advertisers market love with catchy slogans and banners, Netflix rolls out their cheesy chick flicks that have been in storage all year.
And you know what? The Bible is full of love too, from beginning, middle and end. God is all about love, in fact, the Bible says God IS love (1 John 4:8). There is a whole chapter in the Bible dedicated to love; it’s actually known as the love chapter for Christians. But surprisingly there are no romantic poems, cupid, hearts, no reference to finding your true love, or chocolate boxes. But there is love and a description of it. The Apostle Paul takes time in his letter to the Corinthian church and writes out what love looks like for God’s people. And it’s action. True love, according to the love chapter is a verb, not a feeling or romance. Actually there is no romance in it at all. It’s better. It’s an action dependent on a choice to better someone else. It’s not about you. Once you make love about you, it’s no longer love. This is what was one of the problems in the Corinthian church, they loved but it wasn’t godly love, it was worldly love which is really lust–“whats in it for me?” They only thought about themselves on how they can be served rather than serve others. It was a divided church who complained about their leaders and wasn’t being a good example to the world. They were proud, tribalistic, ambitious, and selfish in their relationships. So Paul says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth…” In all of that description, there is not a self serving or self centered attitude but its all other-centered. This the essence of true love.
1 Corinthians 13 was not written with a wedding ceremony in mind. It’s not meant to give us warm, fuzzy feelings. This chapter is Paul’s word of rebuke to a church marked by great miracles and charisma, but by little maturity and character. One sign of mature faith is how you love. How we love others will prove we are one God’s children. Here is the good news, we can have it because God has given us love and shows us love. By faith we can enter into divine love and act it out in our lives. This what God wants from us, to pass along his love to others. When we are unloving, God loved us, when we are unlovable, God makes us lovely. And when we have this deep in our hearts, then all our relationship, causal, romantic, marital, platonic, will be deep and dressed in divine love from heaven. Let’s love like God church.
Grace and peace ?:^)
Pastor Aaron