Image from graceiskind.com
There will be no podcast as recording at a hospital bedside does not lend itself for such!
1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 New Revised Standard Version of the Bible)
A blessed and terrific Tuesday for you all, ConCafe Family! And may the face of the Lord bless you and keep you, dear Reader, is my prayer for you. I again thank you for your prayers for Nellie, who is in a private room now after having a successful surgery. Though she is in pain, she said it is not as bad as it was before surgery, so we know great days are ahead! Our prayers for Mr. Erwin Ckodre, who is undergoing a surgeical procedure in Seguin today. Pray all all goes well with his needs. Also, prayers for a young woman Anne Marie who tested positive for Omnicron! May God heal her and protect her. Our youngest Caitlin, did not test positive for Covid, for which we praise God but ask that healing come to remove the fever. Also, today is the day Mr. Dan Hisey undergoes a serious medical procedure and we ask prayers for him and all of his loved ones. May God grant a successful surgery and speedy recovery. Why do we pray? Because God answers prayer!
Of the countless weddings I officiated, only one bride said, "I don't want that love chapter read at my wedding! I hear it too much!" Okay. And, if memory serves me correctly, the marriage did not last. I could see not wanting this passage read if there was a question as to the validity of love in the relationship, for this is one powerful passage. More so when we consider the hands that wrote it carried out many arrests of Christians, which we can also assume those hands were used to force their way into the homes of frightened believers. In reality those hands were connected to a heart that truly believed they were complying with the greater good. I'm speaking, of course, of The Apostle Paul, who later repented of his lilfe as a persecutor of Christians and became a Christian preacher and evangelist. He used his awesome education and connections to further the cause of Christ Jesus. One can only imagine the day he sat down to write out this passage known the world over as the love chapter. Yes, it works in weddings, but it also works anywhere there is a shortage of love.
The opening part deals with church work. Paul had seen the settings where the outward signs of spiritual work was being carried out, but inwardly, there was something vital missing; love! You can do many things, and some of them purely for show, but inside what has truly movivated you to do such things? You can speak in tongues, you can have prophetic powers, and a mind that grasps the vastness of things others can only wonder about, but inside, what? You can have faith that moves mountains, but if the love gauge in your heart is stting on E, what truly have you done? You can offer to take the place of someone about to be executed, but you're doing it so others may see you as someone good, what good have you really done? And here, Paul wrotes the words most brides and grooms, and other romantic types know, verses 4 through 8. It is a checklist of sorts, where one can truly use it to measure and determine their own actions as to whether they have been motivated by love or not. Hear the list and ask yourself about you and your love and actions of love. Love is patient. Hmm. Next! Just kidding, that one says a lot. Love is kind. That one says a thoughtful person of love knows how to be and show kindness. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. ("Wait, pastor, you're going too fast and I'm getting a bit uncomfortable with the grading! Willl there be a curve?") Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. You can applaud here, please. Just these four verses have appeared on more plagues, placards, posters, photos, etc. than possibly any other of the verses of The Bible. And for good reason. The apostle then sums up the truth of other things; all with finite ends, with the fulfillment of knowledge and revelation coming. And the beautiful bow that closes the love chapter are these equally powerful words, "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these thrtee; and the greatest of these is love." You can also applaud here, but more importantly, you can apply these words to your life and what you should already be doing.
You and I were made to be people of love. By God, and for God, and for all of God's creatures!
PRAYER: God of love, grant to all who hear or read these words, a double portion of Your love so that we can write love chapters in the lives of others stories that will never die because we reflected Your goodness into others. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Love the unloveable today, especially those who nobody else sees or wants.
Receive my love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
