Getting The Love We Need

Good morning…

Practically, what does it look like to inhale the breath of God before exhaling unselfish love? Yesterday’s post, Breathe God In And Out, ends with a Scripture verse. The next chapter in our Bible is 1 Corinthians 13, a chapter best known as the “love chapter.” Let’s personalize these words in a meaningful way as we prepare our hearts and homes to inhale and exhale the love we need.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I clean my house to perfection and prepare a meal that could impress Martha Stewart, but I do not love, I serve strife for supper. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I know all about God and fluently speak the faith-lingo, but I do not share the love of Christ with family, friends, and strangers, I offer nothing of enduring value. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. If I sacrifice my money, my sweat, and my time, surrendering my soul for the good of others, but I fail to love, I am a peace-faker, not a peace-maker. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love (13:1-3, MSG).

Without breathing in God’s love and breathing out God’s love, I am bankrupt and broke, depleted and exhausted, spent and tapped out. None of us possesses the love we all need. Only God’s endless love can fill us and spill over us to heal all hurts. What does this love feel like as it expands in and through our everyday lives?