Love

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." 
            - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV
These same verses are worded this way in The Message version of the Bible: 

"1If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing."

[Song that goes along with this passage: The Proof of Your Love, for KING&COUNTRY.]

My favorite verse of the Bible was always John 13:34 - "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, you must love one another."   There are many other verses on love, such as Colossians 3:14, which roughly translates to "Let love guide your life." 

Love is the basis of our lives through Christ.  The above verse in the book of John is one of the last things Jesus says to his disciples before His crucifixion.  Love is what Jesus was all about.  I struggle with churches and organizations of this religion so much, because much of the time, I do not feel an overwhelming sense of love that I feel should be felt when Jesus's followers come together.  The longer I live, the more I realize how much people like to label other people.  This isn't something that just happens in high school.  We are so quick to judge, quick to label, quick to write off.  Jesus calls us to do the opposite.  Jesus loves and forgives, over and over again, as we should.  It isn't an easy task.  Especially when we have been raised in a world that labels people, and writes people off.  We should not try to search for things in a person based on their activities, what they have done, or how they appear on the internet.  We should seek Christ in them.

Lately, I have focused again on Jesus's teachings.  The last time I really read through and dug into the Gospel, I was younger, and couldn't understand it in the way that I am now.  The above verses have really etched into me recently. I know that the way to heaven isn't through earning it by good acts or deeds, but this is something to really think about.  Even just having faith without love means nothing.  Even incredible amounts of faith!  The Message says, "if I have faith that says to a MOUNTAIN, "Jump" and IT JUMPS, but I don't love, I'm nothing."  I don't know about you, but there are very few days that I feel like I have enough faith to make a mountain jump-but even if I did, and I didn't love, it wouldn't even matter. Sometimes going back to the basis of being a Christian is so vital to remembering how powerful our God is.  

Jesus preached love above all else.  If you leaf through the New Testament, Jesus calls us to love multiple times.  In every situation, we are called to love.  Not only God and Jesus, but our neighbors, too.  And not only our rich neighbors with pools they might let us swim in, but our neighbors with burdens weighing them down, too.  I know. That sounds nice on a page, but there are so many complex things going on in the world right now.  It's hard to love people sometimes, it just is.  It's also hard to know what is best to do in some situations.  However, if we focused more on loving all of the people around us, all of God's people (not even just the ones that claim to be Christians), many of the issues in this world would stop, or at least decrease.  Until Jesus comes back, all we can do is try to focus on loving the people around us every day.  

With this, we need to remember that there are so many different forms of love.  You aren't going to love your friend the same way that you do your mother, the president, clients, your neighbor, coworkers, your children, prisoners, or your spouse.  But just because the type of love is different, doesn't mean you have to love anybody any less. Also, love isn't always just someone being nice to you all of the time.  Tough love is a real thing.  Jesus isn't calling us to be wimps that get walked all over.  But he DOES call us to love those around us, no matter how difficult it may be.     

 I'm really working on remembering this on a daily basis.  While it's nice to sit and say I'll do something, I have been working on putting this into practice with the people around me.  I want to work with these people society has written off as "bad guys" and help them find their way through God's love.  God never asked us to take easy roads, He asked us to fight the good fight.  

Thanks for reading!  If you have any comments, feel free to message me through Facebook or any other means you have of contacting me.  Let's set out to love one another in a better way tomorrow than we have today!