So like probably everyone these days, I’ve had a considerable amount of time to think about things, and I’ve done more than my share of navel gazing. Perhaps all of us have done a little of that.
What I’ve been thinking about the last couple days is pondering love. Perhaps not just the dictionary definition, but the actual meaning.
To quote the ancient dilemma posed by the Roxbury guys, “What is love?”
I think scripture has a few pointed thoughts on the matter. Take 1 John 4:7-12, for instance:
So God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. I don’t feel much is perfected in me. But scripture tells me it could be.
Think a little more about what love really is. From 1 Corinthians 13, we have this timeless little chunk of wisdom, heard during many–if not most–wedding ceremonies.
It occurred to me that in every place in this passage you see the word love–or where reference to love is made–Jesus also fits, and makes perfect sense, especially considering the previous passage from 1 John.
God is love, and Jesus is God.
What if we put our own names in those same places.
As in Tom is patient, Tom is kind. Tom does not envy. Tom does not boast.
If we are honest with ourselves, saying such things regarding ourselves and our own fallen natures does not ring with the same truth as it does when we speak of Jesus. That is probably true of any of us.
We aren’t perfect and we can’t be. Only one person can be.
Quarantine or no quarantine, we cannot love perfectly. But we can love Jesus, who knows a thing or two about loving, and that cannot and will not be affected by a virus.
Lord, help us to love like you. Not concerned with self, not thinking about who loves us, but who we can love. And more even Than that, who we can tell about your love? Father, may we spread your love like a virus. May it leap from person-to-person
Airborne.
A Work in Progress 