When I ask that question, I undoubtedly think of 1 Corinthians 13. An excerpt:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
When I read through from verse 4, I start keeping score about how much my love for others fall short of what is really love. Let me just point out a few minor baby tiny little infractions.
NOT envy? Please. I see how other relationships are growing stronger, while some of mine are dwindling, and it eats me up inside. I wonder things like why can’t I be there for so-and-so and why I can’t have this friendship with what’s-his-name. Completely bogus. Again, pride in wanting more and more and more and more.
NOT boast? NOT proud? NOT self-seeking? Um, let’s just move on. There’s nothing more to say here other than I know I’m trying to… God’s fixing it every day.
NOT easily angered? I’m angered as I write this right now, thinking about how I anger myself and others. “Bitterness” requires even more attention, it seems.
No record of wrongs… I keep records so much, in fact, that I keep records of how I keep records (for example: did I blog it? did I write it down in my notebook? did I write it on a scrap piece of paper? what was I feeling when I wrote it down? WHY THE FREAK AM I DOING THIS?) It’s my pride, again, at play here, trying to be in control of the WORLD.
Always protects… always trusts… always hopes… always perseveres. I remember memorizing verse 4 and 5, but it’s so easy to let verse 6 and 7 (especially 7) fall by the wayside. I’m not sure why. But really, there’s so much in this verse.
Protects. Trust. Hopes. Perseveres. Lessons are flying towards me at the speed of light. To love someone… requires to be able to protect, to be able to trust, to be able to hope, to be able to persevere… I’m not even a fraction of the way to understanding and applying these concepts.
Wow… why is the Word so Good? It’s almost too simple, and yet… so infinitely difficult…
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