His Encouragement #21

Posted August 30, 2018 by thebeccafiles in / 3 Comments

Happy Thursday! I am blessed to be a part of a group of bloggers who feel led to share a bit of encouragement each week from the Bible. We recognize that the source of our peace, strength, and security in this life comes from Jesus, and we aim to share that with our readers. Plus, when Thursday comes around, we can all use a little encouragement right? I hope that this posting blesses you and that you find strength and peace in the Lord today ❤

This week it’s on my heart to share:

⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^[b] ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

~1 Cor 13:4-12

This is a common passage known even by people who don’t profess to be Christians. It’s quoted in almost every marriage ceremony. If you have attended church for any length of time in your life, you’re probably aware of the fact that while the English language has one word for “love,” it’s not the case for the Greek and Hebrew languages. In English, I can say “I love chocolate” and “I love you” and even though the love is different, it still the same word. I won’t go into a full word study with this (mostly because while it interests me I’m not good at it), but I just want to make the point that this passage is about more than the romantic love it’s generally referenced to today. It’s referring to Agape love, which “is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. It is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible.” (check out this site for more helpful info: https://www.thoughtco.com/agape-love-in-the-bible-700675)

Reading this passage can be quite convicting. If I’m being honest myself, I’m often reminded of this passage when I’m hurt or angry or feeling like I’m falling short. But we can also look to it and see how far we have come. When Christ comes into our lives it should change us in a way that makes us more like him. We should no longer be interested in pleasing the world, but our Heavenly Father. Christ gave us the perfect example of love to follow. It goes against the grain of what is often preached to society today. Today’s world teaches to put yourself before others, but real love puts others before self. Think of how much change for the better could happen in the world if people were simply able to understand and live out real love!

I don’t know what you think about when you read the word “love” in this passage, but I hope that you can understand the fullness of love that this passage proclaims. The love it talks about is a love far greater than we can comprehend, yet we can still share in it and spread it. Jesus came in love to die on a cross for us so that we could be reconciled to God. He is our rescuer. He loves us with an everlasting love. It’s a love worth sharing.

This week I’m ending with the song “The Love of God” sung by MercyMe. I hope you take a moment to listen to it and meditate on the truth reveals. God’s love is great and above our comprehension, but He has given it to us through His son Jesus. I hope it blesses you today 🙂