I. am. nothing. I Corinthians 13:2
One ounce of charity is more than moving mountains.
He is going to disown us if we deny what is going on in our lives.
You can't stand some people.
You avoid your mom.
You don't want to relate to the throw-aways,
especially to the elderly, like me.
We are quick to serve---sometimes.
Let's go feed the homeless and do our part.
Your hands may be open and your heart may be closed.
If you have no true love for God and goodwill to man,
the most costly things you do in life will avail you nothing.
Even suffering. Even martyrdom.
"The outward carriage may be plausible,
when the inward principle is very bad.”
Our principle may work us up to the hardest,
but we might never embrace the True Love.
Do we feel the "sacred heat" in our hearts?
Do I enter into the secrets of my own heart?
Do I treat others with ill will
in open defiance to the law of love?
One ounce of charity is more than moving mountains.
He is going to disown us if we deny what is going on in our lives.
You can't stand some people.
You avoid your mom.
You don't want to relate to the throw-aways,
especially to the elderly, like me.
We are quick to serve---sometimes.
Let's go feed the homeless and do our part.
Your hands may be open and your heart may be closed.
If you have no true love for God and goodwill to man,
the most costly things you do in life will avail you nothing.
Even suffering. Even martyrdom.
"The outward carriage may be plausible,
when the inward principle is very bad.”
Our principle may work us up to the hardest,
but we might never embrace the True Love.
Do we feel the "sacred heat" in our hearts?
Do I enter into the secrets of my own heart?
Do I treat others with ill will
in open defiance to the law of love?
Patience. Kindness. Faith-filled. Sacrificial. I Cor 13:1-3.
Never self-seeking to the hurt or neglect of others.
Most scholars agree that what is meant by "charity" in this chapter is not our "common use" of the word *love*.
"Love in its fullest meaning is True Love to God and man." Matthew Henry. Volumes could be penned about the glorious gifts of love. For it looks like Christ and nothing can contain all the words that could have been written about Him.
In our day, love looks like wide-open hands, lavish-generous acts, beautiful encouraging words. But. Without Love, all our good behavior accounts us for nothing. Noisy gongs. Clanging cymbals. Shallow words. Empty lives. We sit to eat and fellowship; we stand to live hollow ways. It is a heart issue: everything, all-encompassing, done from Love to God and goodwill to all men.
We cannot withhold our hearts from God, from our husband, from our children, from our families, from our friends, from our ministry, from our church, from our neighbors, from our world nor from any stranger. If we do, we live a delusion, "looking for acceptance and reward for our good works which is as scanty and defective as they are corrupt and selfish." Matthew Henry
Oh! to live a life of Divine Love! It is our calling. A call to never give up loving.
Matthew Henry posed the question: "Let us ask whether this Divine love dwells in our hearts. Has this principle guided us into becoming behavior to all men? Are we willing to lay aside selfish objects and aims? Here is a call to watchfulness, diligence, and prayer."
PHOTO: Sunrise on the Lake. This Grace of Love. Clean slate every rise.
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