Undisputed
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
One of my favorite movies of all time is called ‘A Few Good Men.’ The famous quotable line is the court scene when Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise go head-to-head, and Nicholson says the line, “You can’t handle the truth!!!!” One of my personal favorite lines is at the very beginning of the trial and is obscure to most. But to me, it carries weight because it focuses on what is necessary in a conversation. The prosecutor in the movie is Kevin Bacon, and in his opening of the trial gives a clinical speech that concludes very simply, “These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed.” Short. Sweet. To the point. Those words resonated with me as they spoke to those things that are true and without question. This brings me to the verses for today’s devotion.
We know love is from God, and that is undisputed. These are without question my favorite verses of the Bible. As I mentioned in last week’s devotion, love motivates and clarifies. This week is an addition to my prior devotion stating what love is and is not. While God’s love is universally felt and constant, my best personal example of love is my wife. She exemplifies all of these traits in her love for me. That is not to say she is perfect, but with respect to all the people I know, no one comes closer to a perfect example than her. It is easy for me to know because as I find myself after an argument, when I was not as loving of her, or where I might react harshly to something asking why she continues to love me. But everything that Paul wrote about what love is and is not would tell you everything you need to know about her. She is awe inspiring in that way and I truly came to understand how God’s love is for me as well.
God’s love is perfect. He is patient and kind with us. While the Bible itself talks about how God is jealous, through Christ, He shows no jealousy, boastfulness, pride, or rudeness. He gives us free will. He is neither irritated nor keeps record of our sinfulness. He pushes for truth. Finally, He never gives up on, loses faith in, is always hopeful for, and endures in every circumstance with us. As Christians, we must embrace this type of love, and when we do not, we fail God and each other. It is that failing that brings the very opposite of God’s love in our world. Some will ask, “If we display the love God has for us to others, what good will that do?” They might say it may lead to our being taken advantage of, hurt, or detract from those things that matter, and I would respond asking “Is that how God sees us? Do we take for granted His love for us?” If we are to make a better world better, we must show a lot more of His love and that should make many of us feel uncomfortable. But that is what spiritual growth sounds like. In fact, the less comfortable we are showing it, the better we are doing it.
Our unconditional love for God is transformative in a broken world. When we chose to withhold God’s love, we see the consequences whether it be in broken relationships, personal isolation, hopelessness, and despair. When we free it to unleash upon others, we find fulfilling relationships, spiritual and literal connectedness, hope, and joy. Yes, it looks easy when reading it in print, and imagine what it would be like to live it out. That is what God would want from us, right? Let us be the transformative change in the world around us living out the principles of Paul’s words today and beyond. Based on Paul’s definition, what areas of love can you work on? How can you reach outside of what is comfortable to expand your capacity to love? My prayer is that will show God’s love more and better. These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed. Amen.