Lectio Divina: The Greatest Of These Is Love

Hi,

This is Mark Glaub and also known as Brother Frederick James and I welcome you to the Aslectio Divina Audio.

As we reflect today on the words of 1 Corinthians 13,

The greatest of these is love.

Probably one of the most well-known,

Underlined,

Dog-eared pages in the Bible.

It's adorned walls,

It's been on the front of notebooks,

Read at almost every wedding you go to,

Often many funerals.

It's used in books of love poetry.

It's probably one of Paul's most beautiful pieces of writing,

Reflecting on what love is and what love looks like.

Most of the time when we reflect on this passage though,

We focus on where this love is in our life from the perspective of do we show this kind of love?

Do we show patience?

Do we show kindness and so on?

Today I'd encourage you to reflect on this passage in a slightly different way.

If God is love and if God is in you,

Then I wonder whether we should take some time occasionally to reflect on the idea of where God's love shines into us in these ways in our own lives.

Where do we see in our daily life God showing us patience,

God showing us kindness?

Where do we see God's love coming towards us in this way?

And probably the more important question,

Do we allow love to come towards us in these ways?

I know so often we resist the idea of thinking about receiving,

We think it's all about giving.

But sometimes we reflect on this passage and I think we miss the point that yes,

The greatest of these is love and yes,

We need to extend this love to others.

But love wants to come into our lives in these ways as well.

Are we allowing love to come in?

And so as we stop and as we still ourselves in the moment,

As we breathe deeply and come to a place of calm and stillness,

My prayer for you today is that your mind,

Your ears and your heart would be open to hear,

To think through and to receive the word that we read today.

That the seed of God's word might find good soil in your heart and bloom to bring forth fruit that will last in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Amen.

Let's begin 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels,

But do not have love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

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.

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.

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice in wrongdoing,

But rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things,

Believes all things,

Hopes all things,

Endures all things.

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,

For we know only in part and we prophesy only in part,

But when the complete comes,

The partial will come to an end.

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.

For now,

We see in a mirror dimly,

But then we will see face to face.

Now I only know in part.

Then I will know fully,

Even as I have been fully known.

And now faith,

Hope,

And love abide.

These three,

And the greatest of these,

Is love.

If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels,

But do not have love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

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.

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.

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice in wrongdoing,

But rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things,

Removes all things,

Hopes all things,

Endures all things.

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,

For we know only in part and we prophesy only in part,

But when the complete comes,

The partial will come to an end.

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.

For now,

We see in a mirror dimly,

But then we will see face to face.

Now I only know in part,

Then I will know fully,

Even as I have been fully known.

And now faith,

Hope and love abide.

These three and the greatest of these is love.

If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels,

But do not have love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

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.

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.

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice in wrongdoing,

But rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things,

Removes all things,

Hopes all things,

Endures all things.

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,

For we know only in part and we prophesy only in part,

But when the complete comes,

The partial will come to an end.

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.

For now,

We see in a mirror dimly,

But then we will see face to face.

Now I only know in part.

Then I will know fully,

Even as I have been fully known.

And now faith,

Hope and love abide.

These three and the greatest of these is love.

God,

As we have reflected and contemplated love today,

We thank you for the love that is all around us.

And we pray that today you would open our hearts to receive that love from you and that you would also open up our lives that we can be a floodgate and a conduit through which that love can be shown and given to others.

May grace,

Peace and of course love go with us.

Amen.

Amen.