Please read Numbers 24-27 and 1 Corinthians 13 if you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year. Tomorrow's readings are Numbers 28-29 and Mark 8.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
If you've ever been in love, do you remember how it happened? You first had to meet someone. You may have liked how this person looked or how this person made you feel. You may have liked what this person stood for or what they stood against. But you probably didn't instantly love them. You may have said, "I think I'm in love," but it was more likely infatuation rather than love. Love isn't simply a feeling; it is an act of the will.
What does that mean? Well, you probably began to love the person only after you began doing loving things for the person and after they began doing loving things for you. You opened the car door for her. You wrote a poem on a napkin for him. You cooked her favorite meal. You made a mix tape of his favorite songs (if you're too old or too young to remember mix tapes, you missed out). The love wasn't immediate. The love came as a result of doing loving things for the other.
I've met with a lot of married couples through the years who came to me because the "love light wasn't burning as brightly" as it used to burn. I always ask why they think that's the case. Usually, it's because they've stopped doing loving things for one another. They've stopped putting the needs and wants of their partners first and have instead focused only on pleasing themselves. How or can you rekindle the love, they almost always ask. By putting your partner first, by doing loving things for your partner. If both partners do this, guess what follows? Love. If you don't do loving things for your partner, guess what? You're not likely to love.
In the assigned readings this morning, Paul discusses love. It's patient. It's kind. It doesn't envy, isn't boastful, and isn't proud. It doesn't dishonor, it is not self-seeking, and it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs and does not delight in evil. It rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails, but it does most certainly require work.
May God grant you the grace today to love. Desire to do loving things for someone else. Work at it. You'll love that person more, or at the very least you'll dislike that person less.
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