1st Corinthians 13: LOVE

"1 If 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. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. "

Do we get it? Nothing is possible without love. We get no where without love. What is love?

I looked it up on Dictionary.com and there are- get this- 28 different definitions. For one word, 28 different ways to use the word. That's pretty big. I opened up my I-Tunes and typed in the word "Love" in my search. 92 songs came up. And that's just the songs that had the word in it's title, not even the songs which slyly and creatively sing about it or around it... Love is pretty powerful.

It's pretty easy to have our hearts hardened toward love. One simple thing happens and without us even realizing it, we've subconsciously made a decision: "Well that will never happen to me again..." "I'll never let someone hurt me like that again..." "You betrayed my trust, well that's fine. I'll never see you the same way again..." And before you know it, you have put walls around your heart. Sometimes you don't even know those walls are there, and you reach a situation where you have the opportunity to cry or to grieve and you're stuck asking yourself "Why can't I cry over this? Why am I not sad? How can I sit here and watch this and be completely void of emotion?" That's a pretty big indicator that your heart has become hard.

I liken it to a few different situations in my life. Caylee Anthony. The homeless. My family.

Caylee Anthony: "Oh my gosh, will they shut UP about Caylee Anthony already? Oh my GOSH, they're airing her memorial service on the news? Oh my GOSH, enough already!" How completely selfish of me. Key indicator of a hardened heart. It didn't hit me until I was sitting here with my earphones in, listening to Bjork- "All is Full of Love" and watching her memorial service as they flashed through old videos of Caylee Anthony. Then finally the thought came to me... She was three when she died... Regardless of HOW she died or WHO killed her... she was three... And that could have been my niece Vivia. I very well could be watching my Vivia's memorial service. Stab to the heart. This family is going through a grieving process, they aren't super-human just because all we've seen of the situation is through the news. They are real people, dealing with a real loss. How selfish of me to be grumbling that all the news is portraying is Caylee Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Caylee Anthony... I need to love more.

The homeless: "They did this to themselves. I don't want to give them money because they will just use it on alcohol or drugs or worse... I'm sick of seeing people begging for money. Go get a job. Try to help yourself then I'll help you." While some of that may be true (okay possibly all of it...) How many times have I been at the bottom of my hole? Did I do it to myself? Most of the time. Have I ever squandered my money on things I didn't really need when I should have been saving? You bet. How many times have I been sick to death of having to ask people for money? Every day. Have I been trying to get a job? Every day. The homeless are people too. They are like you. Like me. They've just reached the bottom of their hole and most don't even know how to climb back out. There was a time when I would be out and see homeless people, I'd salute them and say "Hey! I'm right there with ya, man!" when I was without job, without home, without money... But I'd say this out the window of my car as I was on my way to go out with my friends. How selfish of me. I don't have it as bad as them. But if I show love... give them that little bit that I have to give, it's now THEIR money, what they do with it is NOT MY BUSINESS... I've done my part to show love. I need more love.

My family: "We always act this way around each other. Things never change. Why does she embarrass me so much? I hate when she does that. I hate that he isn't this." When you grow up with a big family, it's easy to sometimes feel looked over, like you don't matter as much as the others, like you got the short straw in comparison. It's like when you have a zit, (I know, go ahead and laugh) and you get dressed to go out that night, you look awesome, everything is fitting perfect, but YOU JUST CAN'T STOP STARING at that zit! You feel less pretty. You feel as if the night would be perfect if ONLY you didn't have this thing in the middle of your forehead that seems to talk louder than your own voice to the people around you... It's yours so of course you know it's there. You're the one who has to live with it. It's kinda like that with family. You know the struggles, you know everyone's weaknesses, you know everyone's attitudes... How selfish of me. I am blessed to have a family. And even greater, a family that loves and worships the Lord, Jesus Christ. No one is perfect. NO ONE. Not even me. When you have love, it's easier to get along and look over and look past all those struggles, weaknesses, attitudes... I need more love.

Lord,
I ask for your forgiveness for not loving as much as I'm capable of loving. Forgive me for being selfish. You are the perfect example, Jesus. You love. You are love. I want to change the dictionary and the only definition it really needs it "Love: see Jesus". You are unfathomable. I ask, Holy Spirit, for more opportunities to love. Change the areas of my heart that don't love. Tear down any remaining walls around my heart that would keep me from loving. May I use 1st Corinthians as my guide map on how to love more. I thank you for your love, Jesus. It's beyond anything I could ever imagine. Shulukt, Jesus. I want my eyes to burn with a passion like I believe yours did, Jesus. A passion to love. I love that my entire body fills with chills when I simply speak your name. That's because of love. Shulukt, Jesus.

amen.