Sunday, February 01, 2004
Meditation on I Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8
----
Love and the Christian walk. Christianity, unlike many moral traditions, is not based on justice. It is based on love. God so loved the world he gave his only son that we should not die. Jesus so loved that he laid down his life for a sin-stained world. And we as Christians, in return are supposed to be as willing to love as our God.
This passage from I Corinthians was written to demonstrate the way of love, but we ought to be able to write the phrase "A Christian" instead of love, and use it as our motto for our walk with Christ.
A Christian is patient
A Christian is kind.
A Christian is not jealous,
A Christian is not pompous,
A Christian is not inflated,
A Christian is not rude,
A Christian does not seek his or her own interests,
A Christian is not quick-tempered,
A Christian does not brood over injury,
A Christian does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
A Christian bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
What a high standard is set for us by our loving Lord. So often we fall, yet what a goal - when we see those like St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Therese of Liseaux, Mother Teresa, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Cabrini, and so many others who breathed life into these goals by living them far more fully than most of us, that maybe we can realize that it is possible, through the grace of our Lord, to live lives of holiness, and it's not just some unreachable goal for us to look at and admire, but turn away from. And how many good men and women, unknown to any but those around them have managed to do the same! If we would try to live this way for the glory of God, the world would certainly be transformed.
If we would try to live this way for the glory of God, the world would certainly be transformed.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8
----
Love and the Christian walk. Christianity, unlike many moral traditions, is not based on justice. It is based on love. God so loved the world he gave his only son that we should not die. Jesus so loved that he laid down his life for a sin-stained world. And we as Christians, in return are supposed to be as willing to love as our God.
This passage from I Corinthians was written to demonstrate the way of love, but we ought to be able to write the phrase "A Christian" instead of love, and use it as our motto for our walk with Christ.
A Christian is patient
A Christian is kind.
A Christian is not jealous,
A Christian is not pompous,
A Christian is not inflated,
A Christian is not rude,
A Christian does not seek his or her own interests,
A Christian is not quick-tempered,
A Christian does not brood over injury,
A Christian does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
A Christian bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
What a high standard is set for us by our loving Lord. So often we fall, yet what a goal - when we see those like St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Therese of Liseaux, Mother Teresa, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Cabrini, and so many others who breathed life into these goals by living them far more fully than most of us, that maybe we can realize that it is possible, through the grace of our Lord, to live lives of holiness, and it's not just some unreachable goal for us to look at and admire, but turn away from. And how many good men and women, unknown to any but those around them have managed to do the same! If we would try to live this way for the glory of God, the world would certainly be transformed.
If we would try to live this way for the glory of God, the world would certainly be transformed.
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