THE BEST IS YET TO COME

Introduction

This week's devotion is essentially an expansion of 1 Corinthians 13:10, which says, “when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” Although this verse deals specifically with a future time when spiritual gifts will become obsolete, it can also be used to describe other times when God—according to His will—brought about something new and better to replace a previous, imperfect system. Although the theme of this week's devotion is things that have or will become obsolete, our main topic for this week—summed up in Hebrews 9 and 10—is the transition from the old to the new “covenant” (or “testament”). In a sense, we will be investigating the way in which God has interacted with His people through time—first at the temple by way of imperfect animal sacrifices, and then through the coming of the Holy Spirit by way of Jesus' perfect sacrifice. Although as Christians we do not adhere to the rituals of the old covenant, I hope you will appreciate the beauty of their symbolism.

The Problem and the Solution

Adam and Eve had perfect fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. But when they rebelled against Him, mankind's ability to relate to God (and really our ability to relate to all other living creatures) was damaged. The problem is that our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). As the Bible says “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth” (1 John 1:5-6). Isn't John saying that if we walk in the darkness (in sin) that we can't have fellowship with God? Therefore, in order to draw closer to God and have a relationship with Him, atonement for our sins must be made.

ccc Forgiveness and atonement for sin is not something we can accomplish for ourselves. As Psalm 49:8 says, “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough...” But God—in spite of the fact that we rebelled against Him—loved us so much that He chose not to leave us dead in our sins. According to the Bible, the key to forgiveness is blood. God says, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life” (Leviticus 17:11). Ever since the fall, when sin came into the world through Adam and Eve's rebellion against God, our sins have separated us from God so that it was impossible for us to have a right relationship with Him. But, through blood, payment for our sins can be made.

Whose Blood?

If blood is the way to salvation, it is worth considering the following question: “Whose blood?” Hebrews 10:1-4 (NLT) says that “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” This passage of Scripture says that the old testament sacrifices were only a “shadow” and a “preview” of the perfect sacrifice that Jesus would one day make. These sacrifices pointed forward to the day when the people's sins would be paid in full by Jesus.

ccc The Passover (Exodus 12:1-13), in particular, is a beautiful picture of what God had planned for the salvation of His people from the very beginning. During the Passover, each Jewish family was instructed by God to take a year-old, male lamb “without defect” and slaughter it at twilight. Then they were to “take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses.” On that same night, God was going to “pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn.” (This was the final plague that God inflicted on Egypt to motivate Pharaoh to let the Jewish people—who were enslaved by the Egyptians—go free.) As God passed over Egypt, He looked for one thing—blood. “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

ccc In the same way that God struck down the firstborn males of Egypt, He allowed His only Son—His firstborn—to be struck down. The perfect year-old, male lamb that the Israelites sacrificed during the Passover was a preview of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. And, on the Day of Judgment, God will be looking for one thing—blood. He will look for the mark of Jesus' blood in our hearts and in our lives to see who it is that we have been living for—whether for Jesus or for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15).

ccc To the Jewish people, the Passover was a time to remember what God had done for the Israelites long ago (Exodus 12:25-26). But Jesus revealed the truth to His disciples when He celebrated the Passover feast with them on the night of His arrest (Luke 22:19-20 / Matthew 26:28): “[Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'” This new covenant—or new testament—was something God had promised long ago (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Shortly thereafter, Jesus fulfilled these words through His death on the cross. The timing of Jesus' death was no coincidence. He died on the eve of the Passover because He was the true Passover lamb: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

All about the Timing

If animal sacrifices are not the way to salvation, our next question is: “Why did God use them?” I have heard some say that God exists outside of time. Regardless of whether or not this is true, the Universe certainly exists within time. And everything God does in our realm is accomplished within the frame of time. As the Bible says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We may not know why God used the timing that He did, but we do know that, within our earthly frame of reference, there was a time before Christ (B.C.). Not a time before Jesus existed (see John 1), but—at least from our point of view (see Revelation 13:8)—a time before He came to the earth to pay for our sins. In the time before Christ, the Jewish people relied on the old covenant, with its system of sacrifices, to enable them to draw near to God. But because that system was imperfect, it was never meant to last forever: “For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established” (Hebrews 9:10, NLT).

The Tabernacle: God's Dwelling Place

“Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary” (Hebrews 9:1), which was referred to first as the “tabernacle” or “tent of meeting” (a movable building) and later as the “temple” (Exodus 40:6, 1 Chronicles 6:32). This sanctuary was not only a place for the Jewish people to come to make sacrifices for their sins, but also it was a place for God to dwell among His people (Exodus 25:8)—a place where they could come near to worship.

ccc In old testament times, the ark of the covenant (or the ark of the testimony) was the most holy and perhaps the most cherished thing in the tabernacle. The reason the ark was considered so sacred was because that is where God promised to meet with the high priest (Exodus 25:22): “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” Once the Israelites had finished building the tabernacle, just as God had instructed, the Bible says that “the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). Why the God of the Universe should want to constrain Himself to a tent built by human hands in order to dwell among insignificant, sinful human beings is beyond me. But the beauty of it is that this is exactly what God did, and He did it all for the sake of His people!

ccc Acts 17:25 tells us that God “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything” but rather that “he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” On the surface of things, it might appear as though the Israelites did a lot for God by following all of those tedious instructions as they built the tabernacle (Exodus 25:1-31:18 and 35:4-40:33) and repeatedly offered sacrifices to Him, but God didn't need the tabernacle or the sacrifices for Himself. All of these things were for the sake of the Israelites. For without the sacrifices, the Israelites would've been completely cut off from God because of their sins.

The Curtain: Limited Access to God

As great as the ark of the covenant and the temple were, access to God was still quite limited under the old covenant. The ark of the covenant was housed in an inner room of the temple known as the “Most Holy Place” which was separated from the outer room by a curtain. As described in Hebrews (9:6-8, NLT), “the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.”

ccc The Bible records that when Jesus died, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:37-38). Therefore, it was not until Jesus' perfect sacrifice on the cross that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was freely opened to us. Jesus' blood made atonement for our lives. He paid the price for our sins in full. Through Jesus, we can now come into the presence of God. As Hebrews 10:19-22 says, “since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...”

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Under the old covenant, the earthly sanctuary—and the ark of the covenant in particular—was the dwelling place of God's Spirit. The Jewish people treasured the ark of the covenant, and the fact that it would one day become obsolete was beyond their ability to comprehend. But God alluded to something better when he said “In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land... men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made” (Jeremiah 3:16). The ark of the covenant was good, but the best was yet to come.

ccc Interestingly, in John 1:14, we hear that Jesus—described as “the Word”—“became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In that same chapter, we can read John the baptist's account of Jesus' baptism (John 1:32-34): “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” In the next chapter, we hear how Jesus drove the money changers and the people selling animals from the temple in Jerusalem. Afterward, “the Jews demanded of him, 'What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?'' Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.' The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?' But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18-22). In these Scriptures we see that Jesus' body was the temple of the Holy Spirit. But being with Jesus was not the closest fellowship with God that the disciples would experience. The best was yet to come.

ccc In His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus alluded to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (John 4:19-24): “'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.' Jesus declared, 'Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.'”

ccc Before Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, He spoke to His disciples, telling them about the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-14): “Now I am going to him who sent me... It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment... when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Then, after Jesus was raised from the dead, before His ascension into heaven, “he appeared to [the apostles] over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit... you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth'” (Acts 1:3-8). Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit. He was the one who would baptize, not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit as well.

ccc “When the day of Pentecost came, [the disciples] were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them...” (Acts 2:1-4). When Jesus told the disciples He was going away, it was hard for them to imagine anything better than having Jesus by their side. But when the Holy Spirit came upon them, their bodies became temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and they received spiritual gifts, just as it was promised long ago by the prophet Joel (2:28-29).

ccc And this is God's will for all followers of Christ (Acts 2:38): “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is the season we now live in. Animal sacrifices are no longer necessary because Jesus has paid for our sins in full. And, because of His ascension into heaven, He has sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to gift us for the building up of the church—the “body of Christ.” But Jesus is not gone forever. He has promised to return (John 14:2-3): “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

ccc Just as the old covenant became obsolete, so also the gifts of the Holy Spirit will one day become obsolete. When we see Jesus face-to-face, we will no longer need the gift of faith because all of our hopes will be confirmed. We will no longer need prophets to tell us God's will or tongues to help us pray to Him because we will be able to speak to Him directly and to clearly hear His reply. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Surely the best is yet to come.

ccc This week I hope you will join me in meditating on the beauty of God's symbolism in the old covenant. And also, “since we [now] have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,” I encourage you to “draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

(Next week we will focus on 1 Corinthians 13:12—“Then we shall see face-to-face”—by discussing how the certainty of Jesus' Return should affect the way we live our lives.)

WHEN PERFECTION COMES

Introduction

Over the past three weeks we have looked at chapter 13 of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Our main conclusion from verses 1-3 was that everything we do should be motivated by love for God and for others. In verses 4-7, we looked at a definition for love. Jesus (God) fulfills this definition perfectly, but when we examine ourselves in the light of this Scripture, it's easy to see that we fall short. As we discussed last week, the solution to our “love problem” is to draw closer to God.

ccc This week we will have a quick look at the last part of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. The goal for this devotion will be to extract the basic meaning of these verses. Then, over the next two weeks, we will look at (1) a brief history of how God has interacted with His people throughout time and (2) how the certainty of Jesus' Return should affect the way we live our lives.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13: (8) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10) but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (13) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Verse 8: Spiritual Gifts vs. Love

Recall, from our previous discussions, that the chapter we are investigating (13) is nestled between two chapters (12 and 14) about spiritual gifts. In this chapter, Paul compares spiritual gifts to love. His basic message is that love is superior to spiritual gifts. In verse 8, Paul points out a fundamental difference between spiritual gifts and love. The difference is this: while spiritual gifts are temporary, love is eternal... Or—to put it another way—in contrast to spiritual gifts, love is not something that we will ever outgrow. It will never become obsolete.

Verses 9-12: Why Spiritual Gifts are Temporary

Verse 10 of this week's text says, “when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” In other words, spiritual gifts are imperfect. How are they imperfect? Paul answers this question by saying that “we know in part and we prophesy in part.” Right now, in spite of the spiritual gifts that God gives us, we cannot completely know Him. Our ability to use the spiritual gifts that God gives us is imperfect. Remember that the reason God has given us spiritual gifts is so we can build up the church. At the present time, those of us in the church must “live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). So we encourage and help one another as we wait for the day of Jesus' return—when our faith will be sight. Spiritual gifts are useful only as long as we are on this earth, waiting for Christ's return. Then, “when perfection comes,” the imperfect spiritual gifts will no longer be needed.

ccc Verse 11 is an analogy in which Paul relates our earthly lives to childhood. During our earthly lives we are like children. We talk like children; We think like children; We reason like children. But when Jesus returns (or whenever we finally get to see Him), we will be like adults, putting childish ways—like spiritual gifts—behind us. Spiritual gifts bring us closer to God and help us to bring others closer to God. When we finally meet God, spiritual gifts will be unnecessary. They will become obsolete.

ccc In verse 12 Paul uses another analogy. He says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” What Paul is saying is that there is a limit to how well we can “see” and “know” God during our earthly lives. When we read the Bible, we get a glimpse of who God is and what He has done for us. From the Bible we get the information we need to know that God is good, that He loves us, and that He offers eternal life to all those who turn to Him in faith. For now, we must be satisfied with a glimpse of God. But God doesn't have to wait to know us. Already He knows everything there is to know about each one of us. And when we finally see Him face-to-face, we will know Him fully in the same way that He knows each one of us right now. This is how the apostle John puts it (1 John 3:2): “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he [Jesus] appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is...”

Homework

This week, I encourage you to read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 and meditate on some of the things we've discussed over the past several weeks. Or—better yet—read chapters 12-14 so you can get the full context. I would also encourage you to use these three chapters as a starting point for prayer. For example, you can pray that God would help you to be motivated by love and to love Him and others more. In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1, Paul says that we should “eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” Why not take this opportunity to seek spiritual gifts from God through prayer? After all, in Luke 11:13, Jesus says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

THE "LOVE PROBLEM"

(Written April 20, 2010)

Introduction

Last week we looked at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and saw that Jesus' life provides the perfect example of the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This week, we are going to shine the light of God's word on our lives. First, I will invite you to take a test. Then we will investigate the root of the problem and its solution.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7: (4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The Test

First we are going to examine our lives against the standard of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. To do this, try the following exercise: In this week's Scripture, insert your name in place of the word “love.” For me this would read: “Lara is patient, Lara is kind. Lara does not envy... Lara is not rude...” (...And now, Lara is a liar...)

ccc How did you do? If we are honest with ourselves, I think we can all admit that we do not live up to the standard of love described in this passage of Scripture. The discrepancy between the way we live our lives and the description of love in this passage can be striking. So, why don't we love others as we ought? In the next section of this devotion, we will investigate the answer to this question in order to find the root of the problem.

Impatience, Irritation, & Rudeness

Love is patient. Hate is impatient... Consider the following scenario: You are standing in line at the coffee shop and the person in front of you is asking all kinds of questions about the different menu items. From their questions, it is clear to you that they have no idea what they want to order. You begin to think to yourself, “If I had been first I would've been done by now... If they don't know what they want, maybe they should step aside and let someone else order...” These thoughts result from an attitude of impatience and irritation and, if acted upon, would result in a response that was rude rather than kind. The underlying sentiment of impatience is that “My time is more valuable than your time.” Whenever we are impatient, we are more concerned with our own needs & desires than the needs & desires of the other person—and many times our two separate needs & desires are at odds with one another. When we are impatient, unkind, easily-angered, or rude we are self-centered (self-seeking).

Pride, Boasting, & Envy

Love is not proud—it does not envy or boast. What does it mean to be proud? It means having an inflated view of oneself. If you are proud, you view yourself more highly than you ought, and you boast about your great qualities to anyone who will listen. (Humility is the opposite of pride.) If you are proud, you look down upon others... What is envy? Envy (or jealousy) is hatred of others who have qualities or possessions that you desire. Consider the following example of what envy can cause someone to do (Genesis 4:1-8): “Eve... became pregnant and gave birth to Cain... Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.' Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let's go out to the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him...”

ccc Why did Cain kill Abel? Because he was jealous! Abel's gift to God was motivated by love; Cain's gift was motivated by obligation. Abel's gift to God was whole-hearted, whereas Cain's gift was half-hearted. Cain could have given God a better gift. Instead, because of his envy, he killed his brother Abel for out-giving him... Pride and envy both focus on “self”: I am better than you... I deserve to have what you have. Pride and envy are self-centered emotions.

Selfishness—the Root of the Problem

Hopefully you are beginning to see the thread that ties all of these things (impatience, unkindness, pride, envy, rudeness, etc) together. All of these things are the result of self-centered living. A person cannot love without relating to other people, so it makes sense that a self-centered person cannot truly love others. The opposite of being self-centered is being God- and others-centered—the opposite of self-centered living is being loving.

Conflicting Messages

These days, the world is teaching us to believe in the survival of the fittest, where everyone fends for themselves. If we believe what the world believes, we have no reason to try and overcome our selfishness. To the world, selfishness is natural and normal—a side effect of evolution. But the Bible says that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and that “God is love” and “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:8, 4:16, and 4:19). C.S. Lewis explains that “our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of [God's] intelligence.” In the same way, we are only capable of loving others because we are made in the image of a loving God. Even those who do not believe in God are capable of loving others because they too are made in His image.

ccc Let me reiterate the difference between the message of the world and the message from God. The message of the world is that he who puts himself first will be first. The message of Jesus is that he who is last shall be first: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man [Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

ccc And again, in Luke 17:33, Jesus says, “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (See also Matthew 10:38-39, 16:24-25, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 9:23-26, 14:26-27, and John 12:25.) What does it mean to “keep” or “lose” your life? I believe to “keep” your life means to keep it for yourself (see the context of Mark 8:34-38, for example) and to “lose” your life means to give it to God (and therefore to others). “And [Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

ccc Since God created us, our lives are His, whether we know it or not. Even so, God gives us the choice to either live our earthly lives for ourselves or for Him (and others). However, if we live our lives for ourselves—not recognizing the sacrifice that Jesus made for us—then we will forfeit the free gift of eternal life that we might also have had through the grace of God. As the Bible says (Mark 8:36): “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Solving the “Love Problem”

Therefore, since God is both the source of love and our model to follow, the solution to our “love problem” is to draw closer to Him. If we truly want to know how to love, we must look to God/Jesus. This is not a passive looking, but rather, God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). In other words, only the true seeker will find God. If we are truly seeking God we will read His word, try to obey His commands, and pray for His help and guidance—we will live our lives for Him.

Final Thoughts

If the world and life came about by natural forces, and there is no God, why on earth do we love one another at all? To me, the presence of love in the world proves the existence of God. Love—especially the completely self-sacrificing love displayed by Jesus—is anything but “natural.” Instead, it is divine.

ccc This week I hope you will join me in seeking God and looking to Jesus as an example of how to love. Like Paul, I pray “that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

DEFINING LOVE

(Written on April 15, 2010)

Introduction
Last week we read between the lines of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 and looked at some related passages. We concluded that God does not merely look at what a person does, but also what's in their heart. Paul has introduced love in these first three verses as "the most excellent way," and now, in the next four verses (1 Corinthians 13:4-7), he seeks to define love. This is the portion of Scripture that we will examine today:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7: (4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

This is a beautiful passage. It is especially beautiful when we realize that it describes God's perfect love for us. But when we look at ourselves in this part of the mirror of God's Word (James 1:23-24), we probably won't like what we see. In today's study, we will look at how God fits this description of love. Then, next week, we will have a look at ourselves in light of Paul's definition of love.

God's Perfect Love - a love of choice

John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We need look no farther than the cross to see how great God's love for us is. And if the cross does not impress you (or if you have become overly familiarized with it to the point that it has lost its meaning) then perhaps you should read an account (1, 2, 3, 4) of what Jesus suffered for you and me. There are few ways of dying that are worse than what Jesus suffered, especially when we consider that He carried the weight of the whole world's sins.

ccc As human beings, we can endure quite a lot... indeed, sometimes we have no choice. Although we may think we want to know what's going to happen in our lives in the future, there is a great blessing in not knowing. But the difference here is that Jesus knew what He was about to suffer, and still He chose to go through with it (John 12:27-28).

ccc To illustrate this further, let me quote from “The Perfect Penitent,” a chapter from C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity: “But supposing God became a man—suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person—then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God's dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all.”

God's Perfect Love - loving His enemies

In Matthew 5:43-45, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

ccc I presume that I am not the only one who has a hard time with some of Jesus' teachings. These words of Jesus are no different. If you're like me, you might initially hear these words and be inspired by them--imagining how noble it would be to live them out... And yet, when someone wrongs me, my first instinct is to point out their fault and indignantly fume over what they've done rather than to love them and pray for them. So, when it comes to living these words out, we tend to look at this command of Jesus' and, like some of His earlier disciples, say, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it ” (John 6:60)?

ccc But before you read these words of Jesus' and conclude that they are too harsh, consider this: We are all enemies of God. Without God's amazing, outrageous love, we would be doomed to destruction because of our sin and rebellion against Him. This is the essence of Romans 5:7-8, which says, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Do you understand the significance of this passage? Jesus (God incarnate) came down to earth and gave His life for us, His enemies, so that we might have peace with God: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him [Jesus], and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:19-22)... Do you still think Jesus' words are too harsh? If He had not loved His enemies, we would still be dead in our sins!

God's Perfect Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Therefore, when we read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we can understand that this is a description of God's love for us—a love revealed most clearly through the life and death of Jesus Christ, who did not envy the worldly possessions and prestige of others, but sought the approval of God the Father... He was not rude or easily angered, but rather was patient and kind, even to the people who persecuted and insulted Him as He suffered on the cross (1 Peter 2:22-24, Isaiah 53:7). Jesus' response to His enemies was this: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). And although He himself was God, He did not take pride in His glory (John 17:5), boast about it, or even consider Himself equal to God the Father, but rather humbled himself to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-8)—the ultimate in self-sacrifice.

ccc Indeed, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). But God is also holy and just. He couldn't forsake His perfect love just as He couldn't forsake His perfect justice—this is who He is, and God doesn't change (Malachi 3:6). Therefore, let me finish with a passage of Scripture that illustrates how perfect love (grace) and perfect justice are reconciled: Romans 3:21-26: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” This week, I hope you'll join with me in meditating on God's perfect love for humanity.