Thorny People

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Paul spent a lot of time in Corinth. He knew the people well. When he received word that there was division within the church, he was prompted to write his letters to Corinth. This is where we find ourselves when we read the all too familiar 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This chapter is known to us as the “love chapter.” What we fail to realize more often than not, is that this chapter of the Bible was written because the people of the time were struggling to show love. Not only were they struggling with this whole love thing, they were not loving their brothers and sisters in Christ. It wasn’t like they were being unkind to strangers. They were divisive within their own family: the church.

Sounds familiar, right? It is not unusual for us to see division within the church. Many non-believers hold firm to church division being the reason they do not attend. As much as we don’t want to see ourselves in the reflections of the pages of the Bible, we often find ourselves in exactly this space.

Loving others is hard. Doing life with people is hard. Loving others can be exhausting. It can take everything from you and out of you. It takes sacrifice. And stamina. Loving others takes self-control (hello…biting our tongues). And sometimes, we need a little reminder to love. Loving others can be thankless and go unseen. But Jesus, Jesus loved us to the point He sweat blood for us. Loving others can be hard. But, I promise you, it’s worth it.

Loving others scares us. We don’t ever want to admit our fear, but we are scared. We fear that loving others somehow conveys approval. That loving others excuses poor behavior; or even hurtful behavior. I am here to tell you that loving others does not relinquish others of their responsibility for their actions. Loving others does not grant them permission to continue hurting you. Instead, loving others opens the door to inexplicable, undeserving, unrelenting grace. Loving others ushers in an opportunity for others to see Jesus.

I want that.

I want to be a part of that.

What kind of place are you for people to land? Are you thorny or soft? Can people lean into you without getting cut? Can they wrestle with hard things, have a different opinion, and make mistakes around you without feeling like they are going to get pricked by your thorns? What kind of place are you? Thorny? Or soft?

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

Are you stirring up gentleness or anger? Do you have everything but feel like something is missing? Paul and Proverbs remind us the importance of love; to not be afraid to love.

I recently saw a church billboard that said, “Go out and love. I’ll take care of the rest.” ~God If we believe God is who He says He is, then it is time we start allowing God to be God. Our job is to bring people to His alter. We need to leave space for Him to do the rest.

“What if we found out that God’s big plan for our lives is that we wouldn’t spend so much of our time trying to figure out a big plan for our lives? Perhaps he just wants us to love him and love each other.” Everybody Always, Bob Goff

Love & Blessings,

Meg