I came, in my reading this morning, to one of the most over-quoted passages in the bible. It's a passage that I usually skim over, on account of knowing it well and, frankly, I find it tedious. You know it, "Love is faithful, love is kind, etc...." Love is all kinds of warm and fuzzy things. We should be really nice to each other, because Christians are mild-mannered and patient, completely absent of pride, and we put up with anything. I am soooooo not that person.
Suddenly, as I was reading, I had an "Ah-ha!" moment.
Every time I've seen this passage on a coffee mug or greeting card, it is referring specifically to a very pleasant attitude applied to our interpersonal relationships. If I can adopt these traits, then I will be "loving" to my fellow man. With this, then, as my definition of "Love", I may then love God as well. It becomes a milquetoast faith that is no threat at all. That's easy on me, it's easy on you, everybody is happy.
Only, I think it is maybe upside down.
Certainly I am to apply these traits to my relationships, and I agree that this helps me to define love. I think, though, that I must read it with an eye toward loving God before I can see what it is to love those around me. This is a subtle difference, but I think it's important in a sort of Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole-way. If my view of Love is upside down, then I may have got it completely wrong.
See, God is Love. Right? The bible tells me so. God also wiped out numerous civilizations throughout history because of their deviance from His absolute moral standard. God requires obedience, He bestows mind-blowing Grace, He values humans to an unfathomable extent, and He manifests a unity of purpose through the corridors of time. He's rather particular in His standards, and I am just not seeing a thing that looks milquetoast when I look at Him. You?
This is where my thoughts went as I looked at 1 Corinthians 13.
I am to be patient as God is. I guess I need to be patient towards Him, too, because I usually have no idea when He'll act. Patience, then involves a great deal of trust.
How about the part which says, "Rejoiceth not in iniquity..."(That's my King James, again.) I too often rejoiceth in iniquity, in fact I can get pretty excited about it. If I look to God to help me define this, then I suppose that iniquity, sin, should make me pretty angry. God gets angry with sin as though it is a separate entity, something which is hurting the human affected by it. I don't do that so well. Mostly, I see the person and the sin all unified, and I get ticked off at the lot. That ends up being remarkably unhelpful.
"Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things..." This is the part that looks like it would make a fine doormat out of someone. What if it is a fixed determination of belief upon the Creator, and a constancy resulting from that; instead of a mindless acceptance? "Mindless" being my key word. "Bear...believe...hope....endure" all require a tenacity of purpose. If I am applying these cliché traits towards mankind because I think God wants me to be nice, I guarantee that I'm going to be irritated beyond tolerance, and likely disenchanted with a God Who lets me be mistreated. If, on the other hand, I am focused on the Person of a Mighty God, Who Judges and Forgives in perfect wisdom, then my love for others shifts right-side-up.
This is exactly the point of my extensive rant this morning. I'm not at all sure that I've communicated the profundity of my morning musings.
I do NOT understand how I'm supposed to love people and serve a Holy God, because my understanding of love involves total acceptance. This is a cultural thing, but it is widely embraced. It is also wrong.
God does not love with total acceptance.
He doesn't.
He loves way bigger that I do, and He's got the whole Judgment/Holiness thing going on. He loves perfectly, and He upholds His absolute standard. When I try to do it, I am a bull in a china shop.
This brings me back to my least favorite passage of scripture. Today, I have acquired a new appreciation for it, and I shall be studying it for a while. You should pray that I will learn something.
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