What Love Requires
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7
Insight
Love requires a lot from us. It isn't strictly a feeling but an enduring action that stretches us. The only way to live out this verse is to see the people we interact with as they indeed are: an incomplete work.
Everyone we lay eyes on is a work in progress. They're weak, wounded, and incomplete. We're called to love people in the good moments and the bad, and trust that Jesus, who began a good work in this individual, will eventually complete that work. We remember that God gave every person worth because they are fearfully and wonderfully made.
We should see ourselves and each other as He sees us. He greets us with an everlasting love that saves us from our past and present selves, and that is smitten with our future selves. In our present condition, Jesus sees us as His sons and daughters who will continue to be shaped into His image. As we go through life walking with our Father, we will see Him more, and therefore, be able to mirror Him more.
He pursues us with a love...
that will never leave or forsake us.
that is bigger and stronger than our weaknesses and struggles.
that is stronger than death.
that saves us from the worst in ourselves.
that transforms and redeems us.
Our hope for living out this verse rests in the reality that Jesus lived it out for you and me. Our faith in the darkness of this world is that even though we are incomplete, Jesus sees the complete version of ourselves.
Jesus was able to bear, believe, hope, and endure all the things in His life because He saw the completed work to come. Jesus saw that He could bring us hope in this life. Jesus saw He could bring us back to a relationship with Him, now and forever.
Reflection
Where are you struggling to display love to others? What would it look like to show grace and see this individual as Christ sees them?
Prayer
Father, thank you for Your life that changed everything for me. Even though I am incomplete, You see more in me. Because You see more, I can trust that You are my hope. Help me to reflect Your love so that other incomplete people can see You and display faith in the person they can become through an encounter with You. I love You Father, and pray these things in Your holy name, Amen.
PC3 writer Davy Nance wrote today’s devotional.
