Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Love is for Losers

So this week I joined the "5 a.m. club," or at least my version of this club which begins at 6:30 :) I've been waking up earlier so that I can start my days off right, with God first. If anyone would like to join me, I would love you to take this walk with me. One of the suggestions is to have a few friends or relatives to call in the morning to hold you accountable to waking up early and being a better spender of time.

Anyway this morning as I sit in my entirely packed apartment and prepare for a long day of moving, I prayed for God to show me how to share his love, to love more like him and to understand his love more so that I might be a more loving person in general. That's a whole lot of love in one sentence. Of recent, I've noticed I'm not as loving towards others as I would like to be, especially those who matter most and are closest to me. So I said my prayers and then checked my e-mail and the first message in my inbox was the following daily devotional that my dad sends to me:

Love is for Losers
Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. —1 Corinthians 13:13

You can learn a lot about a person by what his or her T-shirt says. Recently, one of these messages caught my attention as I walked through a local shopping mall. A young woman wore a bright red T-shirt that said, “Love Is for Losers.” Maybe she thought it was clever or provocative, even funny. Or perhaps she had been hurt by a relationship and had pulled away from others rather than risk being hurt again. Either way, the T-shirt got me thinking.

Is love for losers? The fact is, when we love, we take risks. People could very well hurt us, disappoint us, or even leave us. Love can lead to loss.

The Bible, though, challenges us to higher ground in loving others. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes what it means to live out God’s kind of love. The person who exercises godly love doesn’t do so for personal benefit or gain but rather “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (13:7). Why? Because godly love endures beyond life’s hurts by pulling us relentlessly toward the never-diminishing care of the Father.

So, perhaps love is for losers—for it is in times of loss and disappointment that we need God the most. Even in our struggles, we know that “love never fails.” — Bill Crowder

Unfailing is God’s matchless love,
So kind, so pure, so true;
And those who draw upon that love
Show love in what they do. —D. De Haan

God’s love never fails.

And people say God doesn't answer prayers quickly! I hope everyone enjoys their Tuesday :)