Nov 15 2007
taking love seriously
I don’t take love seriously enough. In particular, I don’t take 1 Corinthians 13 seriously enough. In that masterful text, Paul teaches that nothing has value apart from love. It is like the Christian “Ecclesiastes.” Without love, all is vanity.
I have long been taught the being right but with the wrong spirit is no better than being wrong in the first place. I just haven’t lived it out lately. Greg Boyd has a challenging post entitled, “The Worst Heresy Imaginable.” He reminds us that if loving others is the central theological truth of the gospel, then the failure to love others is the worst heresy. This of course is what Paul teaches us, “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 have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2)
Take a moment today to read Paul’s teaching and then Greg’s challenging reminder, and let us decide to take love seriously.
on the walk
-Ethan
Thank you for speaking confessionally about lacking love. Our becoming-better-disciples relationships (ex. small groups) should be places that influence us to love more and better, or hold us accountable when we don’t.