1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (Message)

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "JUMP," and it jumps, but I don't love, I AM NOTHING.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.  So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.  Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sings of others, doesn't reveal when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trust God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.  Love never dies.  Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.  We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.  But when the Complete arrives, out incomplete will be canceled."  

The goal that I have for you, and for me, is to learn how to love like men and women of God.  Over the past few weeks I've really been searching for love in all the wrong places, continually coming up empty.  Every time that I thought my heart was getting close to love, I fell deeper than I was before and instead of getting up and walking away from that trap, I continued to happily jump right back into the middle of it, but why?  The root of the problem was that I was not being love.  One cannot be loved unless they be love.  I had been working on trying to be those things on my own accord for so long that I had lost sight on the One who gave me the ability to love.  Jesus Christ has given every single one of us the ability to love, and be loved, as long as He is our first love.  This is where 1 Corinthians 13 comes into play. My heart passionately loves this verse, especially in the Message version, because it lists out step by step what the characteristics of love are.  Love doesn't give up, it doesn't covet, it doesn't force itself on others.  If you think about it these three characteristics are some of the ways that the Lord loves us.  So why is it so hard for us to love Christ's people that way, not just in a relationship but in friendships as well?  Sin swept into our lives and corrupted the way that we think of love.  Love looks out for the best interest of others, and not of selfish desires.  Confession, what has been difficult lately is seeing my friend fall in love.  Even though she hasn't admitted it yet, I know that she loves this amazing man of God and it is difficult to not envy what she has.  Love does not envy and covet what others have and this is the cold hard truth that the Lord has begun to reveal in my life.  

So, I'm going to say this in faith that the Lord is going to bless and be blessed by this; I challenge you to analyze your life full of relationships.  Take time to study ever little detail.  Conclude with this, are you loving the way the Bible teaches us how to love?  If your answer is no I challenge you further, memorize, in your favorite version, 1 Corinthians 13.  We are called to hide God's Words in our heart that we might not sin against Him.  By hiding this treasured verse in our hearts we aren not just learning how to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are also learning how to love our God and how our God loves us.  

Confessions, 

Chaleigh   

Friends are like Daisies

Confession, I might be sitting in a coffee shop with a Starbucks sitting next to my Mac computer while sitting at a high-bar table.  Stereotypical white girl status right now.  Another confession, I obviously haven't blogged in a while and hadn't made any plans to until my mother asked me "how my blog was coming along?"  I admittedly gave myself a huge break of time over Christmas mostly to reflect on the past semester and how, and what, God was speaking to me during that time.  There are a multitude of little bits of information that He brought to my mind while I spend huge, lonely blocks of time thinking.  So, with that being said, I am having a difficult time picking one topic to discuss right now as I sit watching the people buzz though the campus coffee shop.

I think I will spend today discussing friendship and how important all my connections have become while living at 'the bottom of the hill' for the past four months.  Proverbs 17:9-17 says "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.  A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool.  An evil man is bent only on rebellion a merciless official will be sent against him.  Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.  If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house.  Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.  Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent- the Lord detests them both.  Of what use is money in the hands of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."  I know this is a pretty long verse, but I think it speaks truth to what a friend really is.  "He who covers over an offense promotes love" this is so significant in most of the relationships that we will encounter.  It also is an example of how God loves us!  He covered all of our offenses with His blood so that we might live again.  It is the least we can do to wake up in the morning, choose Jesus, and then cover the offenses that our friends might have against us.

The Lord has brought three very close friends into my life through living in the dorms, and one very special teammate.  When I refer to my friends while in discussion with my mom I will always tell her that each one of them serves a different purpose in my life.  One is willing to tell me the things that I don't want to hear, but need to.  Another is my listening ear, she is kind and slow to speak.  The third friend I can have two hour long conversations with.  We start out laughing, cry somewhere in the middle, then laugh at the fact that we were crying in the first place.  My awesome and lovable teammate, who I see as a whole, pure, and amazing woman of God, has taught me that it is ok to be vulnerable and confide in someone not matter the age.  She has also taught me how to take selfies, and is extremely good at making me feel awkward and uncomfortable! :)   In verse 17 it says "a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."  There have been a few situations where I needed someone to love me, and there were times where I needed a sister to help me through my adverse situations.  Every single time I could count on these girls to be there for me, to pray for me, and to help me through my circumstances.

Without these four core friendships and the multiple other friends that I have made it all develops a huge blossoming daisy.  Every petal is connected back to the center of the flower and without one petal the flower is not complete.  The Lord brings so much joy through friendship and I think it is just the peak of the iceberg in God revealing His Majesty to us.

Confessions,
Chaleigh