Love (3) !

Monday, 17 July 2023

Love (3) !

1 Corinthians 13.4 – One who loves... his heart is wide open to others. He is helpful, full of kindness and benevolence; he seeks to be constructive and enjoys doing good to others.

The second characteristic of love according to God is kindness. As our text defines it so well, to be good is to be open to others. When someone talks to me about openness, I immediately think of someone welcoming, receptive, tolerant ; an open mind is not limited, it is in search of learning, of receiving from others. Kindness seeks at all times the good of the other, it is not simply avoiding hurting him, it is "racking his brains" to find what will be good for the other, who will develop and encourage it.

There is also this notion of benevolence, of the paternal and protective gaze, of refuge in case of difficulty. I really like this proverb that says : “The charm of a man is his goodness” (Proverbs 19:22). Kindness gives beauty to man, real beauty, not plastic.

Finally, kindness is not laxity. The notion of "good God" has passed into common thought, certainly God is good but He is not weak and senile to the point of accepting everything ; his goodness will reach only those who seek him.

1 Corinthians 13.4 – True love is not possessive, it does not seek to grab, it is free from envy, it knows no jealousy.

We continue our journey in this marvelous text. After declaring that Love is patient and good, the apostle Paul takes the negative form to say that he is not envious. Do you know that envy is one of the seven deadly sins defined by Thomas Aquinas ?

Envy, fueled by jealousy, is a power of destruction that is the cause of much suffering. It pushes to monopolize by cunning or by force what belongs to others, to possess things or even people. She is insatiable, she is never satisfied. Always more is his watchword, burning like a fire in the heart. She pushed Cain to kill Abel, David to adultery and contract murder, the religious leaders sentenced the Lord Jesus to death...

Love is just the opposite ! He does not want to possess, he gives, he does not monopolize, he welcomes, he concentrates his affection on what he has and not on what his neighbor has. We should never say "I want" but rather "I want". How many times have we frustrated the Lord with "I don't want to" ? Kuen also translates that love knows no jealousy yet Exodus 34.14 says that God is jealous. How to explain this, and if we talk about it in the next article !

Pastor Claude

Source (Apostolic Center EZ37M) https://wp.ez37m.com