This week, we will have a test on love! Before we can have a test on love, what is love? Well, I think Paul does a pretty good job of defining some attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
Now, our next devotion in Galatians will talk a lot about love. Therefore, we are going to take a detour this week and discuss the subject of love and give you a simple test, so we can be more ready for chapter 5 in Galatians. Nevertheless, the word “love” found in the above passage is from the Greek word “agape”. I have heard it defined as “an unconditional love from God”. Let’s read how Paul ends chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians:
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Obviously, love is pretty important in God’s eyes! So, what is the test? I want you to replace the word “love” with your name in verses 4-8a. So, wherever you see a blank, say your name:
_____ is patient, _____ is kind and _____ is not jealous; _____ does not brag and _____ is not arrogant, _____ does not act unbecomingly; _____ does not seek its own, _____ is not provoked, _____ does not take into account a wrong suffered, _____ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but _____ rejoices with the truth; _____ bears all things, _____ believes all things, _____ hopes all things, _____ endures all things. _____ never fails.
Yikes – that was a bit painful! So, if I counted correctly, there are 16 blanks. How many did you have success in 100% of the time? Are you always patient? Are you always kind? Are you never jealous? Do you ever fail? I would imagine that if we were all honest, we would all be 0/16 or pretty close to that. Thankfully, Jesus paid for your and my “F” on the cross! Now, because of faith in Jesus Christ, we have been declared righteous. We must live from our new position in Christ and abide in Christ in a moment by moment relationship with Him. As Colossians taught us, we have everything we need to live a godly lifestyle because we have the Spirit of Christ inside of us. We even have the power to be patient, kind, not jealous, not proud or arrogant, etc. However, Christ needs to be paramount in our lives!
Is He? Did you fail this test? If so, approach God’s throne room with confidence and find the grace and mercy you need and begin living from your new position today! May we all love God with our everything and our neighbor as our self! We will skip next-weeks devotion and will be back in two weeks. In the meantime, I challenge you to read Galatians chapter 5.