1 Corinthians 13

I have probably read and heard 1 Corinthians 13 more times than any other verse in the Bible and yet I still go back to it often. I believe that Love is something that cannot be expressed with words but yet only felt with the heart. If there is ever something that comes close though it is this chapter in the Bible...

As I was reading the Bible last night I decided to flip though to this to read before I go to bed as a refresher on what Christianity is all about....Love. I noticed something within the chapter that I have never noticed before. I had this practically memorized, but I memorized it slightly wrong. 

It starts out...
And now I will show you the most excellent way. 
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not LOVE. 

When I memorized it I always thought it said "Loved" like a past tense word that happens at least once in your life...so the way I memorized it as "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels and have not Loved" do you see how much different this is? He says it repeatedly as the words "and you have not love"

He is reffering to something we can have, not just once or twice but something we have for everyone. This is something that is deep inside our hearts that everyone is capable of. 

We can aquire this Agape type of love for everyone if we poor our hearts out to them and desire to love as Christ loved the world. Not one person, not just our friends, but everyone....yes EVERYONE, I struggle with this and so do a lot of people I know. If there is one point that is emphasized more than any other in the Bible it is that though. The Bible is a message of a different way, a way of doing things that people aren't used to. 

Humans are used to hanging out with their friends, the people they have something in common with, they aren't used to having love in their hearts for everyone. We rarely see people from different social classes speak to each other often. The jocks chill with jocks, the smart people chill with smart people, the people who aren't as cool hang with people just like them and so on. 

This is a horrible, shallow way to live...how much more can we learn from people completely different from us that people who live the same exact lives. Look around in Chapel on Monday and it will show you exactly how Christians act. This isn't having love in our hearts at all. You can learn to appreciate people for who they are, instead of walking by and thinking in your mind "I am glad I'm not them, they are weird"

Everyone has done that at some point in their life, but to be honest I feel bad for the people who think those thoughts in their head because they have no real compassion in their hearts. They don't realize that God made that person beautiful even know people have been telling them their whole life they aren't....

So my challenge will be the same as Paul's in 1 Corinthians 13....Have Love in your hearts....he says at the end of the chapter that these three remain: faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is Love