Welcome to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, home of the famous chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13.
On this St. Valentines Day we may do well to remember that Paul begins his famous epistle not on the subject of love, but wisdom: ""For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God," 1 Cor. 1:18.
Don't we sometimes speak of being "fools for love"? Isn't there something delightful foolish about being in love--as in "Kiss me, you fool!"?
Here, Paul shows us that God, out of His great love for us, indeed the whole world, was willing on the cross to do something that would seem foolish to some, to fulfill His purpose of uniting us with Himself. In so doing, he has turned our notions of wisdom on their head: " For the wisdom of this world is folly with God." 1Cor 3:19
Do you ever feel a little foolish about your love for God? So did Paul.
"We are fools for Christ's sake . . . . When reviled, we bless, when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we try to conciliate, we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world. 1 Cor. 4:10 -14.
In this season of love, consider being a fool for Christ's sake.
I'll be a fool for Him who died for me any day over a wise guy in the ways of a world that will never understand the ways of a God who loved us that much!
ReplyDeleteThis subject of love, and the love of God which becomes Christian love is so different if you never knew the other "loves". And even because who have known these other loves that you can BETTER understand the love which reached us and transformed us in order that we can love as we have been loved. It is only when you have understood the depth, the weigth, the length, the weight, the preciousness, the cost, the important, the sacrifice, the gift, and the person who is the source of that love that you will also underrstand HOW DIFFERENT that love is from any other. It is at that moment that you can love THE LOVER and love the OTHER, and LOVE WHO YOU HAVE BECOME IN HIM. You wil cling to that love; you will share that love; you will feel that love, and you will LOVE that LOVE.
ReplyDeleteI love you Lord!
François, his slave
LOVE ... a four letter word ... four kinds according to the ancient Greeks ... so many nuances and subtleties ... so many different ways we use the word ... do we ever truly totally understand it?
ReplyDeleteWe have set out to read God's word to us in one calendar year. The only other time I read the entire Bible was when I was in my teens. At that time, I was actually very angry with God and the church ... but I "loved" to read and read his book I did. That time I started with Genesis and just read on and off until I finished. This time around ... I have not been getting all the readings done ... but somehow this has still caused a shift in my behavior because lately, I've started "listening" to God's word on the computer instead of "reading" it. If that is cheating ... so be it ... but I have noticed two good things in particular because of this. First, I'm picking up on things I hadn't before. Second, I feel like I'm "listening" to others better as well.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. My Old Testament professor always told us to read scripture out loud to ourselves because when we do that we hear it and we hear things we would not have by just silent reading. Much of the Bible was written to be read out loud especially the Psalms and the Prophets in the OT. Many scriptures have rhymes and plays on sounds in the original Hebrew language that are untranslatable and must have added so much to the meaning. Even in the New Testament Paul's letters were read out loud to the whole gathered church. Paul did not expect people to read them silently. So it sounds like you are doing the right thing by listening to the scriptures!
DeleteBut also reading silently was not common until about the 10th century. Previously the norm was to read out loud even when reading to yourself. Augustine in his book the Confessions remarks how strange Bishop Ambrose of Milan was because he would spend a lot of time in his cell (room) reading, but he read silently. Augustine found it so unusual not to read out loud that he recorded it in his book!
Reading well is like catching. The more effort we make, the better we can catch what is being said. As in a good conversation, the more effort we make to listen to others, the better our reception! And isn't reading the Bible prayerfully a daily conversation with God?
DeleteYes, indeed, reading Scripture aloud is, by far, the best way to "hear" the message. I actually find it most revealing when I read it aloud by myself in a quiet place. I think of it as reading and rereading a love letter to me and try to find every morsel of meaning. When reading Paul's epistles, I try to imagine myself as one of the particular congregation hearing it read aloud for the first time. I suppose, like worship, what we bring to it determines what we receive from it. How do you out there approach the reading of Scripture?
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