More than a resounding gong

1 Corinthians 13
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to the burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account of wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to spek like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."

When you look at these pictures, what's the common thread you see amongst the three pictures?? ....that's right! Love. These kids have a face of knowing, "I am well loved". I know many of us have heard this passage many, many times. In our mind we know that the greatest is love. And if I could be so bold, I would even push to say that many of us in our mind believe this to be an easier task to follow than some others the Bible calls us to.

Today, as I was sitting amongst some of my pictures of a trip, my mind began to wander and think on just how different life had looked from when I went on that trip to now. As I looked at each picture I was reminded of how not more than two people in those pictures were people who chose to be in my life currently or desirous of being my friend. I was saddened, yet quickly reminded how my gracious Father had filled that gap, and has begun to fill it with His people of His love, the kind of love of 1 Corin. 13.

It can be so easy to allow our love towards others to be conditional. We can tell ourselves....oh, they hurt me!....or Oh, they need to ask for forgiveness, or say I'm sorry...or I need them to do this or that....or whatever the case may be. We often times, myself included, put conditions on loving others, especially those who have hurt us, or wronged us in our mind. So our love becomes not only conditional but judgmental. But what each of us must remember is this ...."Love is patient, love is kind, ....love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account of wrong suffered" We must die to ourselves, and seek more of Him. We must love our neighbor more than ourselves, and put down our pride or justification....and seek our neighbor, to love them as we would our self. This suddenly becomes a lot harder than it sounds.....because we aren't just loving those we may find easier to love in our mind....who outwardly may seem to need it....homeless, addicts, etc....but this kind of loves pushes us to break down walls and push past hurt and love even those we desire to have nothing to do with. What does that look like for you?? I know for me....it looks like me finding ways to love on those who left me, and aren't in my pictures or in my picture any more. It looks like me seeking a soft spot with those who may even hate me....but I desire to be more than a resounding gong. I desire to love with a love like the Father's...one with out bounds. What does it look like for you??