And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Cor 13:13 (KJV)
THREE THINGS – PART 3 – LOVE
Go to PART 1 >> “Faith” or go to PART 2 >> “Hope”
This word “love”, as mentioned in Part 1, is from the Greek word agape. In the KJV it translates as charity, which ultimately means “selfless giving”.
What Paul is trying to get to is that our talents and abilities count for nothing, in the scheme of eternity, if they aren’t paired with this selfless-style love. And by the meaning of agape love, he is then pointing to the deepest nature of God; the essence of God; the fundamental makeup of the Father.
It’s by this nature that all things remain connected and that all things exist. So it’s when we outwork this style of love that a resonant chord strikes in our hearts, and a feeling of deep connectedness bubbles to the surface.
Mother Teresa, perhaps one of the greatest examples of this love in the modern era writes, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Once again this points to not what we can do with our earthly talents, but what lies beneath and motivates them.
Paul indicates that our understanding – what we see now – is only partial and incomplete, but the day will come when all we see and will be complete.
I’m betting that when we’re enveloped in eternity and we see the sea of united-ness, we'll realise that each of us was connected all along and that everything we said or did had a deep and resounding effect on one another. We’ll now see in full (i.e. below the surface) to the truth that God (and therefore divine and eternal love) was holding us all along. The trick is to not wait until then but right now, begin to see below the surface of your connection, through God, to every other person you encounter.
And like Mother Teresa says, you don’t have to do great things, but just small things with (agape) love.
Remind yourself to smile, to slow down and listen to another’s story, to put your busy schedule on hold and help someone get their groceries in the car. Try paying for the order in the car behind you in the drive-thru or mowing the neighbour’s lawn. Tell the random mother of the toddlers that she’s a champion, or the trainee that they’re doing an amazing job.
You might never see the effect on this side of eternity BUT love will reveal all once we cross the divide!
Love truly is the greatest! Thank you God…
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