Mission Faithwalk

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)              The last word on love is that perseveres. It keeps going. It endures. it never fails, falls down, collapses, bows down or dies. As I think about God’s love for me, my response is a contented mental sigh. As I think about my love for God, I’m embarrassed.              I’ve talked with atheists and agnostics who explain the problem without realizing it. We tend to want love to be easy, especially when it comes to God. We want Him to reveal Himself in ways that have meaning to us, when it’s convenient to us. We don’t want to struggle with our love. We think there’s something wrong when we struggle to love. God shouldn’t m

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)              If you’re read this blog for a while, you have probably read about my issues with words like “trust” and “hope.” It’s not that I don’t trust or don’t hope, but that I don’t understand the definitions well enough to recognize them when I encounter them. I came home from Florida about a month ago looking for God’s guidance about what my summer was to hold. What do I do about the garden? Do I get a job? What will caring for Dad require? There were a few things that I planned. I wanted to exercise to get stronger. I wanted to get my story finished. I wanted to do some birding. I wanted to learn to do something practical.    

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)              Love always protects. Hurray! Something positive love does!   But – we’re talking about our love for God. How silly. The Almighty needing my protection? There is one person from whom I thought God needed my protection: from me. I can’t say I do a good job. I also thought it was a natural inclination on my part to argue on His behalf. I can’t say I do a good job of that, either. Now I’m wondering if it might just be n natural inclination of love. That’s not a bad thing, though it dings my ego a little for some reason. That’s OK.             I don’t think it matters that God doesn’t need our protection. It doesn’t matter that

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)                      By now, you’ve probably noticed. This passage that is all about love is more than half expressed in negatives. Like the Constitution, which President Obama called a “charter of negative liberties,” because it focuses attention on what the government is not to do, this description of love focuses attention on what love is not to do. Today, we get another negative but also a positive. “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”          Who would delight in evil or rejoice in it? One obvious example is “Serial killers and other psychopaths.” They’re evil. On Amazon.com, “Serial Killer” got more than 3

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)                Today’s look at my love for God is another hard one and not just my love for God. They seem to be getting harder and deeper. “It keeps no record of wrongs.” I’ve concluded that I have a (very mild) sort of PTSD. There are parts of me that remember things that my conscious mind doesn’t. Like copperheads in leaves, they wait until I stroll close and strike. The traumas aren’t big, now, but they were big when they happened. I can’t change that past, I can only deal with the emotion vipers when they strike. I am trying to learn that the people involved, either when I was a toddler or now aren’t the real problem. The proble

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)              Love is not easily angered. That is all we need to be told to understand how small a part love plays in our society. All those folks who were angry about Mr. Obama. All those folks who are angry about Mr. Trump. All those activists marching and screaming against whatever. This isn’t our focus of the day, but in a society in which anger is so prevalent and accepted, it’s an easy bad habit to develop.   It doesn’t help that anger feels effective. It lets you get things done that might not happen otherwise. Fifteen years ago, I lost 90 lbs. because I got angry, and I am struggling to lose any now because I can’t get angry. A

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)  But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger (Romans 2:8) self-seeking : to look for, seek out, try to obtain, desire to possess or strive for himself, herself, itself, themselves…           This one is a challenge. I’ve been disgusted with my love for God in all the previous tests. I don’t see how I can be any better about not being self-seeking, but with this one I seem to be having a harder time seeing it. I’m also trying to justify myself. That might be bad news.           What’s the difference between self-seeking and self-care? I’m not sure. Is this one of thos

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)   Rude: offensively impolite or ill-mannered; roughly made or done; lacking subtlety or sophistication             Oh dear, worse and worse. Love isn’t rude? I tend to be a “call them as I seem them” sort. Now, however, the focus is on our loving God. Am I rude to God? Let’s start with the basics? Please? Thank you? You’re welcome? Nag much? Or do I avoid Him? Do I introduce my friends to Him or ignore Him when we’re out together? Or at home together? If He were flesh and blood, would my behavior change? Is that a good thing? Do I remember days and things that He considers important? Do I ask His opinion about things I want us to do?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a) Proud: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated; having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance .             One of the things that tends to bother me about a lot of Scripture is that it tells me that I don’t matter. I’m just one of the multitude. I’m invisible (in ways that I don’t want to be.) Yes, if I were the only sinner, Jesus would have died for me alone, but I’m not the only sinner. I’m just one of billions. Over and over in my life, I’ve been pass

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a) But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. (Matthew 26:35)   I know people like Peter. I’m sure I’ve been like Peter. “If (name your event), I will (or will not) (name the action.)” “If God really revealed Himself to me, I would never doubt.” “If given the choice between death and rejecting God, I would choose death.” “If the government comes after (guns, illegal aliens, name your governmental victim) I will defend them to the death.” “God, forgive me this once and I will never fail You again!” Somewhere along the line, I grew afraid to make suc

  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)           Oh, come on! To love God, I can’t envy Him? That’s especially difficult today. I have sore muscles, sore joints, a blister on my toe, and hot flashes. I have circumstances that might not be too bad compared to some, but they would be so much easier if I had God’s perspective, or God’s wisdom, or God’s power… yes, just some of God’s power to fix some of these distractions would make life so much easier. I know these are petty problems but the size of the problem doesn’t matter much, it’s the response that needs our attention. I’m not even sure the envy needs to be God-envy. If I had as much self-discipline, or as much strengt

                Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8)             We may as well keep going. Love is...kind. It has or shows a friendly, generous and considerate nature. It is affectionate and loving. It treats the other as one of our own. Those are the things the dictionary says. I have a problem with these definitions because it seems to me that kindness can hurt. It can do for someone else what they can and should do for themselves. It can lie in order to let someone feel good about being bad. True kindness requires wisdom and does not ignore justice.             So, what do we do about being kind to God? If we love God, we must be kind to God. Kind to God? Does He need u

            Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-8)               A few thoughts have come together over the weekend. First, there is yesterday's questions: Do you love Me? Do you trust Me? If we love Jesus, that requires the same things that loving another person requires - all those things listed in today's passage. Have you ever noticed how many of the things that describe love tell what love is not or does not? Nine. Only seven describe what love does.             This morning, I want to concentrate on the first thing in the list. Oh, that dreaded word. Love is p.a.t.i.e.n.t. Uh oh. That brings to mind an experiment conducted years ago. They offered kids a choi

          When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”            “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”            Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”            He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”           Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”            Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”           Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”    

                  Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.                 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”            “No,” they answered.                  He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.                  Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it

        Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”         So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,   as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (John 20:1-9)    

           Then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. (Mark 14:50-52)                 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.(John 20:19-20)             Their hopes for freedom had been cruelly shredded and instead of bravely fighting for that dream, they had all fun away. Two had followed from a distance. They had both vowed that they would die before they would deny Jesus, but one had denied Him three times. The other was the only disciple listed as being at the crucifixion with all the women. Jesus was dead. He'd been put in a tomb. It was the Sabbath so they couldn't go far anyway. Even

          When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”   Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:54-56)           And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15:39-41)           and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had com