Free, Filled, and Flowing

As Valentines Day quickly approaches, I cannot help but think of the legendary LOVE verse found in 1 Corinthians 13. For those of you that do not know it, it reads, “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 have 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. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.“

Most of you may have probably heard this verse, read this verse, or used it at some point. Others of you may have even studied this verse in depth. But, I don’t think we can ever be reminded enough what love is. More importantly, I don’t think we can be told enough who Christ is. Go through the verses above and put Christ in the place of love. “Christ is patient… Christ is kind…”  Christ encompasses all of those characteristics. Christ is love. Love is Christ. The more we get to know Christ, the more we feel his love, the more we understand his love, and the more we will have his love in us. That should be our goal- to look like Christ. Look at these two verses: 1 John 4:16b “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:7-8  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Can I go through 1 Corinthians with my own name and say that I exemplify those characteristics? I wish I could. But too often I portray the opposite ones. So maybe this next week leading up to Valentine’s Day I could take one or two characteristics and make those two my goal.  If I work on the smaller process goals along the way of the journey of looking more like Christ, maybe it will make it a little more strategic and a little less overwhelming. So this next week I am going to do “Bethany is patient. and Bethany is not self-seeking.” And you know how this deal works, the more you pray about working on one area, the more you get tested. So this week I will have opportunities to practice my patience and practice my selflessness.  But I will be ready. I will be prayed up in my goal to be filled with love. And as I work on these two things I am going to take some time to recognize (write it down, say it out loud, or share it with someone) the ways I see the love of Christ in the world around me and people around me.  Seeing, hearing, and believing in God’s love will help me make that my desire, my goal, and my focus for my own life. When I am able to receive, accept, and embrace the wonderful love that Christ has given me, it will more freely flow from me.  And that is how I want to live.  Free in love. Filled with love. and Flowing with love.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Look at 1 Corinthians 13. Read it a few times this week. Plug Christ into the verse. Pick a characteristic to work on. Spend some time focusing on that characteristic throughout the week. And recognize and record ways you see Christ’s love around you.