1 Corinthians 13
Years ago my friends and I were eating dinner at a restaurant when we noticed a procession of people heading into the courtyard of the restaurant across the street. By their attire we could tell it was a wedding party. Being the fun loving and carefree girls that we were, we decided we would finish eating and then head over to join the party. Once we walked into the courtyard we were welcomed with open arms. Everybody was dancing and having a great time! Nobody even asked if we were a part of the wedding party and we didn’t dare say a word!
Shortly after our arrival someone suggested the song, “The Love Train” by The O’Jays and they started a love train dance, where each person put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and followed their steps. Within a few seconds the whole crowd joined in and we were moving across the dance floor singing and laughing together. When I started writing this devotional that memory brought a smile to my face as I recounted the fun we had that night!
My question to you for this devotional is: who is climbing aboard “The Love Train” of your life? Do your words and actions reflect the love of God so much that people want to join in your celebration dance of salvation and restoration? The church is often called the “Bride of Christ”, and as Christians it is important to reflect the love the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) has for us. But oftentimes the mirror reflection of that love is lost within a short time after the day of the wedding, (the day we accept Christ’s invitation to be His bride). The pressures of life, the daily grind, and the trials we face, cause us to lose our wedding day glow; just like a bride in the natural loses her glow after the honeymoon period is over.
If you add to these events, the many meanings of love, the wounds we have all experienced by people who have said they love us; it is understandable why there are times it is hard to reflect the love of the Bridegroom. Paul gives us a description of what love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13 and what I want to encourage you with today, is this description is not a human command to love in our own strength! God and God alone is love! So if you have failed miserably at fulfilling this Scripture you are not alone, or if you have beaten yourself up for not fulfilling it, you are not alone in that either.
The love of the Bridegroom dwells on the inside of us and as we embrace His intense love for us, our outward appearance and actions, will begin to reflect that love. But until we embrace it, we will continue to be the reflection of a worn out bride, trying desperately to love in our own strength. Paul reminds us that we can act the part of “GOOD Christian” all we want, but if we have not love, it means nothing. (Verses 1-3) Then he gives us a description of love in Verses 4 -8 which reads, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
As Dr. Phil would say, “How’s that working for you?” For me these are some of the most difficult things to do especially when I don’t “feel” loved or “feel” like loving. But is important to remember that even though we can experience feelings of love, love is not a feeling, it is the spiritual embodiment of God that was sent in the physical embodiment of Jesus Christ! When Christ died and was resurrected He went back to Heaven so that we could have the spiritual and physical embodiment of love within us.
If we want people to climb aboard the “Love Train” of our life, and for them to want what we have, a relationship with Jesus Christ; we have to fully accept the love of the Bridegroom! We have to stop trying in our own strength, to define love, live love, and give love! We have to come to understand what Paul wrote in Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
I want to encourage you to spend with the Bridegroom and ask Him to reveal the truth about the love He poured into your heart the day you said yes to Him. And then begin to embrace Him as love, so that you can become a reflection of that love, instead of trying to love in your own strength. As you do this you will be amazed when you look around and see how many people want to climb aboard “the love train” of your life and follow you to the banqueting table of the Bridegroom. You will also be amazed when you are strengthened in the measure of faith God has given you, and how hope filled you become as the love of God is shed abroad in your heart!
Prayer: I am overwhelmed by Your intense and amazing love for me that You would pour Your love into my heart through the sacrifice of your own Son! I choose today to stop trying in my own strength to define, live, or give love. I now realize that You and You alone are love and that as I embrace Your love, it will be reflected in my life. Help me to understand the depths of the knowledge of Your love, so that people will want to climb aboard “the Love train” of my life; so that I can lead them to the destination called salvation through my words and actions if they don't know You! I praise You for entrusting me with Your love and for teaching me how to become a reflection of it! Amen
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