And the greatest of these is love...

I was late for devotions this morning (as usual...). I don't know what my problem is. I usually consider myself to be a fairly punctual person. However, when it comes to devotions at 6:55 - it's like there's a magnetic force holding me in my apartment no matter how early I get up.

When I walked in, I was surprised to see one of our newest employees, who has been here for about a week or two, sharing. It just seemed like it was a little early for him to be in the devotion rotation. Anyway - I'm sad that I missed part of what he shared because it's obvious that it really meant a lot to a lot of people, and it's come up in bits and pieces of conversations throughout the day.

He was talking about love, and he questioned and challenged how well we show genuine love to people who are hard to love.

He talked about how faith, hope, and love abide; but the greatest of these is love. Why is love the greatest? Because it is the only one that will never change. One day, faith will be sight and hope will be reality - but love is everlasting.

He read 1 Corinthians 13 and was choked up all the way through it.

In his translation, it said love is not easily angered - and that really resounded with me as I thought about how often my class feels hard to love. That has really been something I have been challenged with this year. Even when they are being loud or silly or rude and I can't hear myself think, much less get a word in edgewise, I'm learning to not be easily angered. Even when I'm displeased, I can be calm and just wait.

As I've gone through my day and heard more about what he shared, I learned that he really focused on the truth from 1 John 4:8 which says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

If God is love, then 1 Corinthians 13 changes - and it is no longer just an impossible and overwhelming list of rules about how we should love our spouse or our children or our annoying students... It becomes more like something we receive...

God is patient.

God is kind.

God does not envy.

He does not boast.

He is not proud.

God is not rude.

He is not self-seeking.

God is not easily angered.

God keeps no record of wrongs. (because of the blood of Christ!)

He does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

God always protects...

Always trusts...

Always hopes...

Always perseveres...

God never fails.