Wedding Season
Posted by Jeffrey Smith June 16th, 2016 1,993 View 0 Comments
1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
We are about to go into wedding season, and no doubt we all will hear this scripture at some point if we attend a wedding. This however is not about the wedding of man and woman, but of man and Spirit. This is a true definition of what love really is.
We all should spend time studying and meditating on this scripture. We who are followers of Jesus are of one body, one Spirit, and we are unique in who we are, but we each have Jesus and His Spirit in us. As we do, there should be no dissention among us, only unity.
This scripture was written because many of the leaders of the early churches placed importance on different things, wanting to be smarter, better, and more spiritual than their brother or sister. They wanted to be viewed in a way that made them stand out as if one person had all the answers above another, and further that the spiritual gift they had was more important or better.
We see this today, so many people come in the name of love and of Jesus Christ. They tout their ideals, belief's and wisdoms on all of us ad nauseam. We are forced to sit through someone else's vantage point under the guise of love and of faith, and yet it has very little to do with love, or more importantly with the love of Jesus Christ.
If you are a pagan, or if you are a non-believer, this has no bearing on you. This is not talking about how we deal with pagans or non-believers. This is for believers and followers of Jesus Christ only. If you identify as a follower of Jesus and you are telling others your opinion and your wisdoms, let us all make sure that we do that with this scripture as the benchmark of what we share with others.
The pull of our flesh is strong brothers and sisters, and if our point of view is more important than honoring another brother well maybe it doesn't have to be said. I have seen in the wake of recent events in the world, others quick to find fault, and yet what is lost is the individuals who hurt and have suffered great loss. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26: so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Yet we still have division in the body.
The hour is late brothers and sisters. We see this world turning dark, and while it gets darker, we must be unified to bring the light of Jesus Christ to show the way. How can we do this when we have to be better than our brother? More right than our sister? Put conditions on our love for others? That is no love at all! That is selfish ambition! That is self-importance. Wisdom is given from the Spirit, not the flesh. If you are only wise to yourself and to people who would think you were right if you spoke lies, than what do you have? Well it certainly is not love. It will not last very long at all. We know that through this scripture love always perseveres and so we have that one to rely on. We have hope, we have trust. Love always protects us and it is with that heart that I implore you bride of Christ, unify in love! Is it so bad to be wronged? 1 Corinthians 6:7 (AMP): Why, the very fact of your having lawsuits with one another at all is a defect (a defeat, an evidence of positive moral loss for you). Why not rather let yourselves suffer wrong and be deprived of what is your due? Why not rather be cheated (defrauded and robbed)? We each are warriors of our own truth while we hide behind our keyboards on social media throwing out our judgments. But I say if we argue and punish each other needing judgements from others to side with our point of view than we have already been defeated. We are all here as followers of Jesus Christ to show the world the love of Jesus through us. We must have the hope that we are different and that others will know who Jesus is through His bride. If there is only one way that I may show you love, and that is for you to agree with my point of view, than I have failed in love. My promise as your friend this day is to love you regardless of who you are in Jesus Christ. If you profess Jesus and believe that He died for us and arose from the dead, what else are we to truly argue about. Let us love with abandon and regardless of whether we agree on every single point, let us not threaten to withhold the most valuable of the three faith, hope and love ( 1 Corinthians 13:13) from each other. Forgive each other and let us live in unity. Reach out to those who have hurt you and reconnect. We have so many problems in this world, and it is not a problem with the seen, it is a problem with the unseen. We must focus on connecting with each other in love and compassion.