Daily DEVO

HOW TO SHARE THE GOSPEL

1 Corinthians – Chapter 13

  • Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant… 1 Corinthians 13:4 – Likely this chapter is not a foreign one to read. If you’ve attended a wedding or attended church, you at some point have likely heard this section of scripture quoted. As I was studying over this passage one commentary gave a unique, two-part challenge that I want to give to you. Part one, swap “Jesus” for the word love everywhere it comes up in this chapter. Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus does not envy or boast, Jesus bears all things. “Jesus” just fits so perfectly in these spaces for He so embodies what godly love is. Now, part two, swap your name for the word love everywhere it comes up in the chapter. “Mac” is patient…is kind…does not envy…is not resentful. My name doesn’t work as well as using Jesus’ name, and likely you can agree when it comes to the swapping of your name here. What does that mean for us? That learning and imitating the life of Jesus is going to be our best way for embodying godly love like we are supposed to. No, none of us right now are loving like we are called by God to do. We aren’t always patient with others, we don’t always let go of past hurts like we should, and we certainly aren’t always selfless like we are called to be. We’re not there yet, but thankfully Jesus is, and we can follow His example. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3120

  • Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (v.7-8a) This summer I am getting the honor of officiating my first wedding. As expected, as I have been studying up on how to do a wedding, this passage is coming up quite often. We of course relate it to the love between man and wife, to show what they will…should…have for each other in their relationship. What we who are Christians need to understand about this passage is it goes far deeper than just what is used in a wedding. This is the sort of love that God has for you. He’s patient with you through all your wrong choices. He’s kind in response to your turning away. He rejoices when you seek after Him. He carries all your burdens with you. He walks through everything with you. Why? Because His love for you never ends. When we hear the famous verse say, “For God so loved the world,” this is the sort of love the passage is speaking of and you can replace “world” with your name. God loves you. Allow today the love of God, the real love that God has for you, be on your mind. Realize what could change in your story if you truly grasped that God loves you like this. We all can take steps forward in our walk with God when allow our hearts to settle in the love that God is showing us. – Daily DEVO 18
  • When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 – Maybe for you this passage was super easy to understand, for me though it wasn’t so I figured for others out there like me I’d share what I found out about it to help that understanding along. It’s continuing the conversation about love and comparing our understanding of love now versus in Heaven to a child’s thoughts to a man’s thoughts. A man has so much greater understand than a child and so will we about love in Heaven. Like our understanding of love now is like trying to focus on something through thick, distorted glass but in Heaven it will be like staring at it face to face, nothing interfering the focus. While our understanding of true love is limited on earth, we have been given the example of true love in Jesus. Let’s learn deeply about the life of Jesus to know deeply about love. Then once this life is over and we see Jesus face to face, we’ll know true love in ways we never could imagine here in this life. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 715
  • Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – Last year I had the honor of sharing a sermon on this passage. We’ve heard these verses many times so I tried to ask a different question concerning this passage. I asked what if our love isn’t. What if our love isn’t patient, or kind, or doesn’t bear all things? Looking over my old notes the last point stood out to me. What can happen if our love isn’t these things is that people won’t come to know Jesus because of us. It won’t be because of the news, it won’t be because of politics, it won’t be because of things in their past, what will push them away from Jesus is us. Please keep that deep truth at the front of your thoughts when you are debating how you will respond and relate with someone. Our love can draw them closer to a life with Jesus, our lack of love can push them so far that they’ll never want Jesus. Make sure your love is striving to be all that scripture says it should be. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1780