No-Matter-What Love

Love... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.-1 Corinthians 13:7

1 Corinthians 13- who doesn't love this lovely verse about love? I suppose it's no surprise that I adore this verse. I used to check out whole books of poetry out of the library, thinking and writing and memorizing so many sweet verses, dreaming someday of the love that might come. Yet this is one of my favorites, and it reminds me of a favorite line from an oft quoted Shakespearean sonnet:

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds... (from "Let Me Not to the Marraige of True Minds")

This kind of love from 1 Corinthians 13 is a no-matter-what love... it puts up with everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything... no-matter-what. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have found a love like this. Although I've always hoped and dreamed and written poems about this guy that I would someday meet, but now that I have this love... it's so indescribable. Imagine that... me... who lives in a world of words... speechless.

And to then take that to the love our Lord offers to us... how beautiful it is, and how incomprehensible to us. And this is challenging, because we are to love everyone in this "no-matter-what" way. If people treat you meanly, if they're in a bad mood, if they take your spot in line or take the job you'd been dreaming of or forget to wash the dishes for the seventh time. Perhaps this new love that I feel, that I'm experiencing will help me learn to love everyone more... help me to practice giving this amazing love that my love gives to me. Thank You, Father... for the love You have give to me through Your son and through meu amor. Lord, help me to love everyone (all Your children) no-matter-what.

"Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool." -Isaiah 1:18

And we all need this no-matter-what love. I'm quite looking forward to Romans Bible Study this week, because we are reminded that none of us are enough on our own. So humbling and oh so very true. We need our Father's forgiveness. We need our Father's love, because we do sin... and we do need His faithfulness. This love and this forgiveness are beautiful beyond measure.

While we often think of communion as a solemn occasion, I am reminded of a beautiful communion service at Boca Chica Haitian Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic this summer. The tune "Whiter than Snow" was so different than how it is in our churches here. With drums, guitars, tambourines and guidos (like the old-timey washboard sound), women and men sang their hearts out and danced their way up to receive the communion. Smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts, this communion was filled with appreciation, joy and a deep understanding of the beauty of celebrating our Father's forgiveness. Lord, the fact that You forgive me when I sin... sins which hurt myself or others or You... is beautiful. I rejoice this morning for a Lord who loves me and washes me... "blan pase koton."

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. -Galatians 5:13

Yet, to this secure and forever love, we must be careful not to take advantage of it. It's not a "get out of jail free" card. If we have really given our hearts and our lives over to Jesus, then we must show that we are not taking advantage of the freedom from our sins and transgressions, but moved by His love to live in accordance with His teachings. Let me go about this day, sharing about You in a most honoring way, Lord.