Love is not self seeking
Had a long day yesterday, went to a bible study directly after work and when I got home it was 10:00pm. I hardly had time to do anything b/c the next morning I’ve to be up and do my devotions/which is something I promised God I’d be consistent about/ so I had no time for anybody. Didn’t even call my friend who ‘s been trying to get in touch with me for the past 3 days because I needed to sleep and be up and ready for God in the morning. I get in bed around 10:45 ish and force myself to sleep, I fall asleep.
I wake up hearing my roommate laughing loudly and talking very comfortably which I presume is on her cell phone. Then I check my phone for time it is 1:45am….what 1:45am doesn’t she know that I have a meeting with God in the morning, and that this is not just her house. Arrgh…. I’m now wide awake mad at my roommate, talking myself out of not getting up and telling her to keep it down b/c we’re sleeping. Then I sense the Holy Spirit saying to me, isn’t the reason you want to be up in the morning to speak with me so that I’ll teach you to walk like Christ? Yes, and then it clicks, I am not being Christ like at all...I'm only looking at what my needs are, then these verses flooded in my head.
Love
1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
John 13:34-35 (New International Version)
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Romans 12:17-22 (New International Version)
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
It’s not what I do for God (reading his word, praying, fasting) which btw is something I do for my own spiritual enrichment but it’s what I do for the people around me that count as what I do for him. If I want to please him and practicaly love him, I need to love those around me and serve them b/c everything else counts as nothing….all my so put together efforts are nothing unless I do them all with Love.
God showed me at 2:00am in the morning that LOVE IS Not Self Seeking at all. So friends, our responsibility is to be found faithful where God has put us. Oh what a joy when we are found faithful.
Glory be to the Lord,
Mekdes
I wake up hearing my roommate laughing loudly and talking very comfortably which I presume is on her cell phone. Then I check my phone for time it is 1:45am….what 1:45am doesn’t she know that I have a meeting with God in the morning, and that this is not just her house. Arrgh…. I’m now wide awake mad at my roommate, talking myself out of not getting up and telling her to keep it down b/c we’re sleeping. Then I sense the Holy Spirit saying to me, isn’t the reason you want to be up in the morning to speak with me so that I’ll teach you to walk like Christ? Yes, and then it clicks, I am not being Christ like at all...I'm only looking at what my needs are, then these verses flooded in my head.
Love
1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
John 13:34-35 (New International Version)
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Romans 12:17-22 (New International Version)
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
It’s not what I do for God (reading his word, praying, fasting) which btw is something I do for my own spiritual enrichment but it’s what I do for the people around me that count as what I do for him. If I want to please him and practicaly love him, I need to love those around me and serve them b/c everything else counts as nothing….all my so put together efforts are nothing unless I do them all with Love.
God showed me at 2:00am in the morning that LOVE IS Not Self Seeking at all. So friends, our responsibility is to be found faithful where God has put us. Oh what a joy when we are found faithful.
Glory be to the Lord,
Mekdes
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