David Bahn – Reflections

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 5; 2 Chronicles 32; Ecclesiastes 1; Isaiah 27.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This little Greek word – συνέχει – caught me off guard today. I didn’t recall it when I encountered verse 14 of today’s reading. But I did recall a different translation of it. The NIV has compels, while the ESV has controls. I wasn’t ready for controls. I don’t like to think of Christ’s love controlling me. I’d rather think of it as compelling me – moving me forward, causing me to act or respond. But the ESV and others has controls for good reason. You could say that Christ’s love grips us so strongly that it leaves us no other course.

In Paul’s case he is speaking of his compulsion to spread the word about Christ. He is committed to persuading people of the validity of Christ’s ministry. He is dedicated to calling people to faith in Jesus. He is resolute to convincing people of Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of eternal salvation through faith.

I had to think of what controls or compels me. Sometimes I must admit I function out of fear, greed, appetite, or anger. I yearn for applause, admiration, and a satisfied appetite. I suspect that many who read this will have to admit to faltering in these areas as well.

But that’s where the controlling nature of Christ’s love becomes a gift. We are not only sinners; we are saints. The old nature still wages war within us, yet we have been baptized into Christ’s death and raised with him to new life. That’s Christ’s love at work.

His love sought us, saved us, and now takes up residence in us — pressing in, gripping the heart, and moving us toward the life he has already given. It does not coerce; it claims. As his love presses in, it presses out what does not belong to him.

So when Paul says that the love of Christ controls us, he is not placing a weight on our shoulders. He is naming a promise: that Christ’s self-giving love will have the final say in who we are, what we desire, and where our lives are headed.

This is the freedom of the gospel — a life held, guided, and renewed by the One who died and rose, and who will come again to bring love’s work in us to completion.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 4; Psalm 30; 37; 116.

2 Corinthians 4:1-10

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ² But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.

I’m pretty much a hit the nail with the hammer kind of guy. I’m not often subtle. In fact I sometimes feel as though if I don’t say it straight out, I’m being duplicitous. Part of that is due to the fact that I’m not particularly wired to take a hint. I’m more inclined to understand a direct comment than an innuendo. Give it to me straight!

Even though I’m more inclined to direct communication, I am still able to read between the lines of certain communications. And I deplore underhanded communications, deceptive talk, or cloaked threats.

That was apparently what was going on in Corinth. Paul will not practice cunning or tamper with God’s word. He is committed to the open statement of the truth. His yes is yes. His no is no.

Years ago we lived in Utah, and we learned much about the LDS church and their tactics. They start conversations with unsuspecting people by talking about family and decency, values and home. But as you delve deeper into the Mormon beliefs you discover some major surprises. Mr. & Mrs. God with their own planet? Temple marriage of one man to many wives – and the women’s means of being saved dependent on their husband – not on Jesus’ death and resurrection.

That’s just one example. There are many places and ways people seek to deceive and corrupt God’s truth. That is not the true way of God. As Paul writes, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

So let me say plainly: I am a clay jar with a precious treasure of God’s grace and love. That treasure is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. I delight to point that out whenever I can. It’s God’s power that saves and none of us need to hide that truth from anyone.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 3; Exodus 31; 34; Proverbs 7.

2 Corinthians 3:4-18

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰ Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

¹² Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, ¹³ not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶ But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Many years ago – before I went to seminary – I was asked to help a congregation by leading lay services on Sunday mornings. My buddy, Jerry and I would drive to Kennett, MO and take turns. One of us would lead the worship. The other would read a sermon. The first time I thought I’d take the easier task and lead the worship rather than deliver the sermon. But when I began the service I was as nervous as can be. Which way do I face? Do we stand or sit? Am I going to mess up the prayers? I’ve eventually gotten at least somewhat adept at this. But my start was nerve-racking to say the least.

And it’s a really good thing I’m not an Old Testament priest. There are so many rules and regulations! I could never keep up with them. I’m all about the spirit of the law – even though I may miss one or two minute details. Those details! How many steps have I taken on the Sabbath? I’d surely lose count. And I’m sure I would just forget and bring in six sticks of firewood rather than the limit of five. And those are just two examples of Sabbath laws for all the Israelites.

If I were a priest I’m sure I would forget and wear my wool cloak when serving in the Temple. Ezekiel 44:17–18 forbids that. And I would not enjoy inspecting for skin diseases or household mildew as Leviticus 13–14 require. Paul speaks of the Old Testament ministry as a “ministry of death, carved in letters on stone.”

But that is not the calling of servants of Christ. We have a sufficiency from God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And – Thanks be to God – Paul writes “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So while I don’t want to dismiss any liturgical move that is edifying, I am also free to omit any that are not salutary. I’ve served a church where we sang every verse of every hymn we sang, did not omit any portion of the Divine Service from the hymnal, and relied on very formal rules of conduct. And I’ve served in a church that meets in a restaurant replete with beer taps and other accoutrements of a honkey tonk. Needless to say the latter did not observe very many liturgical nuances.

God has placed his Spirit within us — not to bind us with fear or performance, but to free us through the mercy of Christ. Wherever the Spirit is at work – whether in a sanctuary with every verse sung or in a restaurant with beer taps on the wall – the Holy Spirit brings the freedom of the gospel: freedom from fear, freedom from the weight of performance, freedom to serve with joy in the grace he has already given.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 2; Exodus 29; Job 6; Lamentations 1.

2 Corinthians 2:5-17

Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. ⁶ For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, ⁷ so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸ So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹ For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰ Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, ¹¹ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

¹² When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, ¹³ my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, ¹⁶ to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

“Smells like sulphur and comes from the pit of hell.” That was a member of our Saturday morning Bible study at a church I served years ago. His comment was regarding a television evangelist who was making some outlandish claims that were just close enough to the truth of God that is would deceive many. This TV “evangelist” was doing that. I say, “‘evangelist’” because an evangelist is one who brings good news – not fake news, not deceptive news, not self-promoting news.

When I think of destructive forces at work in the church and the world, I think of distrust, envy, greed, selfishness, pride, and deceit. All these come from Satan and stink up the world and the church.

Paul speaks of a fragrance of the knowledge of Christ and the fragrance from life to life. Paul uses the word “aroma” also in v. 15. The passages from Exodus speak of the aroma of the sacrifices going up to God – pleasing to him. As I look at the context of all these pleasing aromas it strikes me that it is associated with faithfulness, mercy, forgiveness, truth, and sacrifice.

These are the building blocks of life and edifying fellowship. These are the facets of faithfulness and love. These emanate from Christ himself, for he is the embodiment of all these things.

That reminds me of Mary, who took a pound (about 12 ounces) of very costly perfume made from pure nard, broke the alabaster jar, and poured it over Jesus’ head (and, in John’s account, also on his feet) as he reclined at table. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. It was an extravagant, sweet-smelling act of devotion that honored Jesus as King and Messiah, prepared him for burial, and bore witness to the transforming grace at work in her life.

Thank God for the sweet smelling aroma of Christ’s faithfulness, love, mercy, grace, and truth at work in us and our fellow-redeemed. That smells like the most delicate and lovely perfume one could imagine.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 2 Corinthians 1; Judges 4; 2 Chronicles 16; 17; Ezekiel 9.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

When my younger sister died friends and family gathered at our home and brought us so much comfort by being there, offering words of love, food, and even moments of laughter. It was sorely needed. She had died at less than 8 years of age in a terrible accident in our home. Even my friends from college came over to be with me. The funeral service was comforting as well with the pastor likening her going to heaven with her going to our grandfather’s house – a wonderful analogy.

When my brother-in-law died it was quite the opposite. We went to be with my sister, and gathered at her house. But he had determined not to have any service and we resorted to printing out some Bible verses and laying them around the house. But there were no prayers. No message was shared. No comfort at all.

It doesn’t have to be at the time of someone’s death that we need comfort of share it with others. But death is that time when the need for comfort is so very obvious. There is a hole in one’s heart, an empty chair at the kitchen table, a void in the day when a loved one is gone. Our hearts ache. That is the price of love that death extracts from us.

That comfort will be different for each of us, for God comes to each of us according to our needs and his extraordinary grace and love. For one it may be a quiet conversation in a private place where you can let the tears flow. Another may wish to be surrounded by people coming and going, bringing food and cheer. Someone else may wish for a walk in the woods and an opportunity to express anger and frustration in prayer and conversation with God.

If people like Paul – the man who was extraordinarily successful and a hero of Christian mission – can need and express thankfulness for comfort he received, we can surely acknowledge our need for the comfort of brotherly love. And we must remember Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” You may be either the comforter or the comforted. If the latter you are being prepared for the former. If the former, remember the comfort you have received from God, and use that as your motivation and strength.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; 1 Chronicles 18; 19; 20.

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Well, that was a wasted day! Have you ever had that feeling? You spend a day driving to some far distant government office, assured by means of a phone call that was where you needed to go, and they would have what you need. Only the office there is closed and they’ve moved to a new location – on the other side of town! Or you walk in and they have no idea what you’re talking about or why you would have come to their location. Perhaps you’ve worked on a project at work only to discover that it’s been scuttled; your work is in vain.

Humanly-speaking we may be able to identify 1000’s of cases where people’s work has been in vain. From carefully preparing a home-cooked meal only to learn your guests already ate to spending hours waiting for a repair technician who never shows.

But let’s go even deeper. Let’s say you pour yourself into discipling someone in the Christian faith, but who suddenly leaves without explanation, and abandons the faith. Is that even possible? I wish I had never had the experience of having a man come into my office and announce without apology that he was leaving his wife and two daughters to move away and start a new life with another woman.

Was my preaching, teaching, and pastoring in vain? It would seem to put Paul’s promises to the test. What good did it do in his case? Or what if our children abandon us, or worse yet, the faith and remove themselves from the fellowship of the redeemed? Is all our effort to raise them right in vain?

We must believe God’s word through Paul that our labor in the Lord is never in vain. There are two wonderful truths to which we can tie our hearts in regard to this. First of all – the last chapter of God’s story in our family’s lives, or a wayward church member has not been written – until that Great Last Day comes. Where there is life, there is hope. And second: look at this chapter! This is the Resurrection Chapter! The tomb is empty! In light of that reality, even the days that feel wasted or fruitless are gathered up by God, who weaves them into his saving purposes.

God can raise the dead. He showed that in Jesus. And those who believe in him can be certain that it’s not over until it’s actually over. Whatever energy, effort, blood, sweat, and tears we may have put into raising our children or guiding a brother in Christ is not wasted. It will be honored and redeemed. That’s the promise of the resurrection and the beautiful blessing of God’s grace.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 15; Isaiah 22; Hosea 13; Ezekiel 45; 46.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

TV personality and show host Larry King once said that if he could interview anyone from history, he’d choose Jesus Christ — because the answer to one question, ‘Were you really born of a virgin?’ would define history. King understood that if Jesus truly entered the world as God in the flesh — and rose again — that changes everything.

Antony Flew, a famous atheist philosopher, later said the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus “is outstandingly different in quality and quantity” compared to other claimed miracles.

So there you have it. Larry King says in effect, that the resurrection of Jesus – if it were true – changes everything. King was a self-described agnostic and of Jewish ethnicity, yet he realized how pivotal Jesus’ virgin birth and bodily resurrection is to all of life. Antony Flew recognized that the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection is not easily dismissed.

They are echoing Paul’s witness here in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul further says, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ” (v. 14-15). The resurrection of Jesus is one of two pillars on which the Good News of Jesus rests – the other being the virgin conception and birth of our Lord.

I’m not certain how much thought we give to this foundational truth. Perhaps that’s because it is so remarkable – nearly unbelievable. But it is of first importance, and the foundation of our hope for our eternal salvation. Not only that (as if that isn’t enough!), here’s the application for us today: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (15:58).

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 14; Isaiah 28; Amos 7; Numbers 10.

1 Corinthians 14:6-9, 13-19

Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? ⁷ If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? ⁸ And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? ⁹ So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 

¹³ Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

I have an untested theory about the Charismatic Movement of the 1970s. It may have risen, at least in part, as a response to a growing loss of confidence in Scripture. In those years, many dismissed biblical miracles as natural phenomena – a red algae bloom instead of the Nile turning to blood, Jesus “appearing” to walk on water rather than truly doing so. The supernatural was being explained away.

In that climate, a groundswell of people rediscovered a living faith in Jesus. The Jesus Movement spread across the United States and Europe, bringing with it a deep respect for Scripture and a renewed belief in God’s power. From it grew a wave of charismatic gifts – tongues, healings, and prophecies – vivid reminders that God was still alive and active among His people.

Without judging those sincere believers or their gifts, I sometimes wonder if this renewal was a Spirit-led answer to an age that had lost its sense of the spiritual.

Whether or not such gifts continue today, Paul’s warning to the Corinthians still applies: God gives His gifts for one great purpose – that all people might be saved and come to know the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Religious enthusiasm may have its place, but the clearest sign of the Spirit’s work is when hearts are brought to faith through the plain, powerful proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

God wants you and me to know that clearly – and to live in ways that honor Christ in the ordinary rhythms of life. Most often, his work isn’t revealed through moments of religious euphoria, but through people who speak simply and clearly of God’s great love — the fullness of grace and truth found in Jesus.

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 13; Job 13; 19; 26; 36.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Many couples choose 1 Corinthians 13, the “Love Chapter,” for their wedding service and the message I share that day. I like to make a point by substituting their names for the word love in the passage:

Joe is patient and kind; Mary does not envy or boast; he is not arrogant or rude. She does not insist on her own way…

It doesn’t take long before they glance at each other, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a little shame or accusation. You can almost hear it in their eyes: You’re not all that! or I wish I were more like that.

This passage is perfect for a wedding – after all, love is essential for Christian marriage – but Paul didn’t write it about marriage. He wrote it to a divided church. The Corinthians were quarreling over leaders, bragging about their spirituality, abusing Holy Communion, tolerating immorality, and even taking each other to court.

Paul had just finished teaching about the Holy Spirit giving different gifts to different people. Now he shows them the more excellent way – the way the church is to live out faith with God and with one another.

Love is the way the body of Christ is built up. It’s the heart of true worship and the measure of every offering. It’s impossible to make a bold witness or a genuine sacrifice without love.

The trouble is, we’re not very good at it. I lose my temper too quickly. You may recognize impatience, envy, or pride in your own heart. None of us display love perfectly, but by God’s grace we keep learning – at home, in marriage, and in the church.

Here’s the good news: when you put Jesus’ name in place of love, in the passage it finally fits.

Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus does not envy or boast. He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful. He does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never ends.

That’s because Jesus is God in the flesh, and God is love.

When Jesus’ love fills our hearts and shapes our lives, it spills over into marriages, friendships, and communities that reflect his love to a world desperately in need of Him.