A Love Marathon
On Sunday we will read the “love” passage – 1 Corinthians 13 (click here to read it).
This is a favorite passage and I even have a poster of it in my house. It has been read at more weddings than I can count, and it always warms our hearts.
Paul, however, was not writing about marriage. The church at Corinth was notoriously factious and full of infighting. In this letter, Paul was trying to teach them how to enjoy and benefit from the variety of gifts among them, but at the same time function as one in Christ, as His body without all the in-fighting that differences can bring about. The center of that teaching is 1 Corinthians 13.
The love that Paul calls us to here is a difficult love. It is love that looks past the flaws, differences, mistakes, etc., and is committed to what is best for the other. That, for Paul, is the only thing that makes it possible for the church to be the church.
It is quite appropriate to read it at weddings because the family is the place designed by God for us to learn and practice this love. If we don’t find it and practice it there, we are unlikely to have it elsewhere.
Like so many things in the Christian life and life in general, you can’t just get up one morning and decide you will be loving today. These are habits that are built slowly. Learning to love as the Scripture calls is is neither a simple matter of learning the correct information, nor making a simple decision. Like running a marathon, it is learned one day at a time, one small step at a time. And over the long haul, those small steps became habits and habits become character.
Where might you become more loving today? What small habits might you change to be more loving toward those around you? How might that effect you tomorrow?
This column appeared in the January 30, 2022 edition of St. John’s eNews. Click here for the complete issue.
If you are reading this at a different time, you may click here for the current eNews.
