Great Plains Daily Devotional for 10/5/2019

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 

If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.

Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Today is my anniversary. As I think back to our wedding, and this scripture we used at our wedding, I realize today how I understand it differently than I did the day I was married.

When we were young and newly married, love was a happy feeling – a sense of joy at being together in this thing we call life. This scripture meant to me then that love was a grand and wonderful thing – big enough to move mountains! This scripture told me that this feeling would never end, and I was so happy.

Now that we’ve been married for a while, and have gone through the inevitable ups and downs in life, the trials and tribulations, I see this scripture much differently. I see that is brings instructions and guidelines. I see that these words are more of an instruction manual for life. I realize now that love is far more than a feeling – love is action. Love is what we do, how we live – not just in the happy moments, but when the going gets tough. I’m sure I’ve had my moments of being a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal throughout our years of marriage. But I also see God’s promise that love will never fail, and so I continually work to bring God’s love into marriage, family, and wherever I may be, and with whoever I may encounter.

While I understand love far differently now than I did on the day of my wedding, I also realize that my understanding of love is far from complete. God’s love for us is something so much bigger than I can even comprehend. This scripture gives me direction and hope, especially when life gets tough.
 

 --Rev. Andrea Beyer
Clay Center, Kansas, UMC
abeyer@greatplainsumc.org

Prayer for Reflection