(Love) “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;” 1 Corinthians 13:5
Every time I read this verse I get an image of Jesus walking through the streets loving people, ministering to them, and giving us an example to follow in how we are to act, react, and interact with the people in our lives. Have you ever really studied Jesus’ ministry and looked at the way He treated people? His ministry was love motivated, grace filled, and purpose driven. The ministry of our lives can be a mirror image of His if we are willing to accept instruction from the Holy Spirit as our helper and our guide.
If we do not do this there is no way we can implement Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 13:5 because these attributes belong to a spiritually minded person, not someone operating from a carnal mindset. Remember that in 1 Corinthians 2:16 Paul says that we have been given the mind of Christ so we know it is possible to operate in a spiritual mindset on a consistent basis, but we must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to instruct us.
Jesus Christ is the ONLY one who walked the face of this earth and was never rude, never self seeking, never provoked, and never had an evil thought. So our ability to execute Paul’s instruction comes not from a humanistic, self willed effort, but from being spiritually minded when we are interacting with people. We are to be love motivated, grace filled, and purpose driven! In Matthew 5:16 Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." The works of our lives are on display before man and if we allow the Holy Spirit to instruct us and we are spiritually minded we will not be rude, self seeking, provoked, or full of evil thoughts, and the works of our lives will bring glory to the Father!
So how do we do this? It can only be done by doing what I said earlier which is by being love motivated, grace filled, and purpose driven each and every day of our lives. A love motivated individual is not rude and they are not provoked to angry outbursts. They do not give place to the devil when they do get angry and they guard the words that proceed out of their mouth, making sure that they impart grace to the hearer. (Ephesians 4:26-29) They ask these questions before they act or react: Will this edify and can I say it with grace?
They are spiritually mature and will hold their tongue if they cannot answer yes to these questions. They allow Christ’s love to flow from them and speak only what they hear the Spirit saying. Jesus gave us many examples to follow in His ministry because He was constantly being confronted but He never behaved rudely. In fact He protected others from rude people. Operating in a mindset of love not only keeps us from acting or reacting rudely, but it also opens the door to patience, kindness, and walking in forgiveness for those who have offended us.
A love motivated individual is not self seeking because they understand that their life has purpose and they are constantly being moved by the power of the Holy Spirit in the direction of that purpose, just as Jesus was. When we accept our life purpose as Jesus did we know why we are here and each person we come into contact with is a reminder of that purpose. Then we will seek God’s will for that relationship and become selfless, only looking to fulfill God’s will in our lives.
A selfless individual does not say and do things that will bring division, strife, judgment, or condemnation. They do not think evil thoughts about themselves or others and they are not provoked to anger. They do not react in the flesh with attitudes of rudeness but rather they pursue peace with all people. This opens the door for the Holy Spirit to work through them to do the will of the Father. In order to become an individual who is love motivated, grace filled, and purpose driven one must become mature in their Christian walk being filled with wisdom and understanding of all three.
This is what it means to abide in Christ and to have Christ abide in us. When we abide in Him each day we are saying yes to His love, grace, and purpose for our lives. My prayer is that the entire body of Christ will be willing to lay aside selfish ambition in order for us to become like minded with Christ and able to fulfill His commission to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. When we finally accept God’s love for all people, His grace that is sufficient, and His purpose for our lives we are able to move into maturity as His body and we will make an impact in this world with the Gospel. Tomorrow we will look at what it means to not rejoice in iniquity, but rather rejoice in the truth.
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