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Love, A Must
by Joyce Samuel One of the most challenging chapters in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13. Check out the qualities of love: patient, kind, humble, always polite, unselfish, temperate, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, NEVER FAILS! Oops! That makes me want to squirm and scratch my head. Even just a cursory look at those qualities shows that they are humanly impossible to attain! But 1 Corinthians 13 challenges us (and rightly so), to love the unlovable; to be patient with the insufferable; to believe the best about people, even if they have let us down time and again; to be courteous even when the opposite seems perfectly in order. It compels us to examine our hearts every time we sing, 'Father we declare that we lo-ove you' For we lie, if as we sing that song we harbour hatred for anyone in our heart. 1 John 4:20b says, 'he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?' And in 1 John 3:15 we see that: whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. It is obvious that there is no evading the issue of love. We cannot overtake it once and for all in the race of faith just so we don't have to deal with it anymore. If we do so we overtake our very salvation. And with salvation behind, only doom could be ahead. But God forbid! Let's take time to 'do' love. It is a deliberate, costly act: possible only by total dependence on the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within us. It's comforting to know that it's His good pleasure to help us; or else I'd give up right now! But I dare to lean on His grace. Did I say 'lean'? I meant 'throw myself completely' on the Holy Spirit! Cheer up. Love is 'do-able'. Go ahead and give it another try in spite of the pains and hurt you may have suffered from loved ones and not-so-loved ones. I bet you'll soon have a testimony. Pastor (Mrs) Tega Samuel Born: 26/06/67 Education: B A English & Literature, PGDE Interests: baking, making beaded jewellery, singing, teaching Church: Christian Teaching Centre 123 Apapa Road Ebute-Metta West Lagos Nigeria. email: [email protected] Married with 2 children Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |