Can't get this out of my mind

[lsdiamond]

1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. 11 When 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. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Comments

hmm...

[saditymaus.livejournal.com]

That's always been a favorite of mine. But recently I've thought about giving up childish ways and I think that if we thought more like children, faith, no matter the religion, would be easier to come by and life would be more wondrous. Plus, we'd have nap time. :)

[wolfiechick.livejournal.com]

Without Love there is nothing. We are created to want love, to give love and enjoy love. Love endures all things.
Like with the commandments, if you love God and your fellow man then each and every one of the other commandments are easy. And the love of a child is given freely with no expectations. If God did not have unconditional love, we’d all be toast.

So, love makes the world go ‘round. :o) luv you!

[lsdiamond.livejournal.com]

So what do you do when you realize that you don't love your fellow man like this, and never really have?

[wolfiechick.livejournal.com]

That’s a tough one but I believe that we are meant to accept people and their faults but not having to agree with their opinions or beliefs. This also means we do not have to accept their actions nor their retaliations. So in essence, love does not have to be a fuzzy feeling or affection. It can just be acceptance. This does not mean you have to want to be around this person or think good thoughts about them. It’s just acknowledging them as human and imperfect.

Does that make any sense?

Two things I have found helpful.

[nanyanshikaze.livejournal.com]

I've found two excercizes that allow me to understand exactly what 1 Cor 13 is saying. Basically, this chapter can be used as a guideline to show us where our strengths and weaknesses are.

The first excercize, is to replace any instance of the word Love with the word God. You can do this, because in 1st John, it is stated that God is Love. When you do this, you see God's relationship to you--what God thinks, feels, and does for you.

Once you understand how God relates to you, then you can move in to understanding how you relate to others. After the first excercize, you then replace the word Love with your own name, and then see how many of the statements are true and how many are false. You take each true statement and put it in a column, then take each false statement and put it in a column, and that shows what you are doing well on, and what you need to work on in your life. This shows how well you treat others, and how well you treat others ultimately reflects on how well you treat God Himself.

"Ian is not rude" would be a true statement, because I am a polite person; therefore I do not need to work on my manners. "Ian is not arrogant" would be a false statement, because I can be very stubborn and proud about my own ways at times; therefore I do need to humble myself.

It works for me, and quite a number of people who I know. I hope it helps.