Life
Changing Love
1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul writes, “If I speak in the tongues of men and
angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging
cymbal.
The
ability to see and continue to receive God’s love will determine our ability to
give God’s love. Said
another way, “The way that you are loving today will reveal the way that you
are viewing God’s love in your life.” If you have a little bit of love, you can
only see a little bit of God’s love…and if you have a whole lot of love, you
continue to allow His love to be seen in your life daily.
There
are a number of places where the Scripture confirms this idea. You remember the story in Matthew 18
of the servant owed the king $2 million dollars which was impossible to pay
back. The King released the servant from the debt and not long after releasing
the servant, the servant goes out and tries to extract $20 from someone else.
They threw the man in jail until he could pay it back. The story gives a picture of what God has
done. Not only does it point out God’s forgiveness. It points out God’s love
One
of two things went wrong with the servant. First, he never understood the love
and grace that was truly extended to him.
This caused him to find it short term.
But it made no lasting impression.
Second, he forgot what had been done for him. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what the reason
was but that ultimately it caused him to lose sight
During
WWII and the Nazi occupation of Holland,
this remarkable Dutch woman and her family went to Auchzwitz for hiding Jews in
their home. Speaking in Portland, some years ago, she was sharing her
testimony and said, “I don’t want you to take any notes, or listen to anything
I say unless you know who I am.” The audience began to chuckle softly because
everyone knew who Corrie was. Then she
proceeded, “My name is Corrie Ten Boom and I am a murderer.” (There was total
silence) She said, “You see, when I was in prison camp I saw the same guard day
in and day out. He was the one who
mocked and sneered at us when were stripped naked and taken into the
showers. He spat on us in contempt, and
I hate him. I hated him with every fiber
of my being. And Jesus said when you
hate someone you are guilty of murder. So I wanted you to know right from the
start that you are listening to a murderer.” She continued, “When we were
freed, I left Germany
vowing never to return. But I was
invited back there to speak. I didn’t
want to go but I felt the Lord nudging me to.
Very reluctantly I went. My first
talk was on forgiveness. Suddenly, as I
was speaking, I saw to my horror that same prison guard sitting in the
audience.
There
was no way that he would have recognized me. When he had last seen me, I was emaciated,
sick, and my hair was shorn. But I could
never forget his face, never. It was
clear to me from the radiant look on his face while I spoke, that he had been
converted since I last saw him. After I
had finished speaking he came up and said with a beaming smile, “Ah dear sister
Corrie, isn’t it wonderful how God forgives?” and he extended his hand for me
to shake.” She said, “All I felt as I looked at him was hate. I said to the Lord silently. “There is nothing in me that could ever love
that man. I hate him for what he did to
me and to my family. But you tell us
that we are to love our enemies. That’s
impossible for me, but nothing is impossible for you. So if you expect me to love this man it’s
going to have to come from you, because all I feel is hate.” She said to that
group at that moment she felt nudged to do only one thing: “Put out your hand, Corrie,” the Lord seemed
to say. Then she said, “It took all the years that I had quietly obeyed the
Lord in obscurity to do the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I put
out my hand.” Then she said something remarkable happened. “It was only after my simple act of obedience
that I felt something almost like warm oil was being poured over me. And with it came the unmistakable message,”
“Well Done, Corrie. That’s how my children behave.”
And
the hate in her heart was absorbed and gone. And so one murderer embraced another
murderer, but in the love of Christ.
Then Corrie said, “Yes, I am a murderer.
But you are listening to one gloriously, marvelously freed and forgiven
murderer. You see, I love so much
because I have been forgiven so much!”God does the same things in each of our
lives. When we understand how much he
loves and has forgiven us, then His love begins to pour from our lives.
In
1 Corinthians 13,
Paul lists several way in which love is shown.
1) Begin to accept people unconditionally (v. 4 says, “Love is patient, love is
kind…”) Paul not
only gives the passive side of tolerance.
He gives the
active
side of graciousness. Many people are
good at putting up with other
people
but God’s love calls us to go the extra mile and extend kindness
2) Seek to encourage people continually (v.
4b says, “It does not envy, it
does
not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking.”)
3) Forgive others freely (v. 5b says, “It is
not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs.”)
4) Serve them cheerfully (v.
6 says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with
the truth.”)
5) Commit yourself to others
wholeheartedly (v.
7 says, “It always protects,
always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”)
Rebecca Pippert, in her book, Hope Has Its Reasons,
challenges us to ask the question, “What difference does our faith make?” She
writes, “We have enough religion to get us saved…but not enough to dramatically
change our lives.” That is a sobering
thought when it comes to how deep or shallow our love is going to be. As we open our hearts to God, His love
becomes life changing.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Have you astounded by God’s love for you
lately?
2) Who most needs that love shown to them in
your life?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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