But Have Not Love

Aug 16, 2020 

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘐 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 1 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 13:1-3 

This passage gets me every time. Did you read all the good things we can do? Have faith that can move mountains? Give everything we have to the poor? As humans we herald and praise anyone who does such deeds, but Corinthians says all that can be done in vain. It isn’t enough to do good things, but too often I’m satisfied with and feel justified by my actions alone meanwhile my motives and attitude are miles away from Christ’s love. I allow myself to focus on frustrations with others and dwell on the negativity of the situation. Yet this is exactly what the next few verses say not to do.

𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘐𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴. 

Years ago when I taught 9th grade, you can imagine how much we used to talk about attitude. The students and I would set personal goals for our attitudes and revisit those goals throughout the school year. I have to admit that I’m finding it’s easier to teach good attitude than to have one in all circumstances. So often it feels like a giant wall comes between me and having the right attitude. Perhaps I need to get out a good ol’ index card and write out some goals again. And may be I will. But more than writing on any card, God has been working to show me that this is the battlefront where Satan is able to render Christian witness ineffective. 

When we do the right thing without love, we risk marring the name of Jesus and others may decide they want nothing of Him. That’s why Satan fights us so hard on this. He knows he will lose as soon as you and I come into communion with God and our bad attitudes change. Satan uses the cares and circumstances of this world as daily distractions to keep us from being with God. It only takes a few difficulties with situations and relationships, and soon we find ourselves spinning our earthly “wills” and fighting this futile battle alone. I will be kind. I will not get frustrated. I will smile and be loving. I will… 

This is what I’ve found myself doing lately and let me just say it’s not going so well. You know how some people have a fake smile, the one they use when they are frustrated deep inside but still smiling on the outside? I don’t have that. And you know how some people have a filter that screens things before they come out? You guessed it. I don’t have that either. But whether or not we are good at pretending and filtering, God desires to push all of us past the faking. So how does someone like me do the right things without having frustration and frowns written all over my face? That’s just it. I can’t. 

My attitude behind my actions has to come from something deeper than a pep talk in the mirror while practicing my smile. In fact, this is where all fake smiles have to fade. I have to come face to face with the fact that I have a sin nature. This is where the earthly meets heavenly, the carnal collides with the spiritual, and my sinful nature clashes with God’s holiness. We have to realize that there aren’t enough pep talks in the world or sufficient human willpower in ourselves to love others the way Jesus did. Once you and I admit this truth, we can stop the struggle. Our earthly “wills” come to a screeching halt, the grit of our own tactics relax, and relief floods our souls as we realize that loving others isn’t a feeling we muster or something we do on our own. 

And, this is exactly where God wants us to be – in need of Him. When we realize that on our own we can’t love our enemies, we look to Jesus. When we admit that we’ve been holding a 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠, we humbly come to Jesus for help. That’s how we love others, by surrendering and letting Jesus’ own love flow through us. And once we’ve spent time with Him, we stop looking in the mirror to practice a fake smile and instead look at our reflection and realize that Jesus has forgiven us for all the same things we find frustrating in others. That is how we change the fake to real. When we recognize that Jesus loves us just as we are – flaws and all – that sets us free to love others the same way.