My son is a speed reader. He must be. With his businesses and on the board of several companies, he must read and review tons of documents and correspondence. If he wasn\u2019t a speed reader, he\u2019d be bogged down with more paperwork than he could handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve become a speed reader, too! And there lies the reason why I must school myself. Reading the Bible through each year, often becomes cold repetition and an act of regimen instead of reading it like a love letter that God intended it to be. Intentionality of reading and hearing is where we glean so many treasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve mixed it up this year. I am LISTENING to the “Bible in a Year” podcast via Father Mike Schmidt who reads and comments. I have gleaned much with His insights as I get ready for my day or while I am working out on the elliptical machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, my Bible is my \u201cgo to\u201d place for finding direction on which way to go or what to do. I have many \u201cgo-to\u201d passages and I know many stories from a lifetime of studying God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But intentionality is key. We hear God\u2019s words spoken to us when we attend church or a Bible Study. I admit that I get distracted by this or that and find myself speed-reading through familiar words or skipping a section altogether because I think I \u201cknow\u201d it so well. I also know that the enemy of our souls is a sly fox and he throws all kinds of distractions to keep us from God\u2019s love messages to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am stirred up about how important it is for us to hunger for God\u2019s Word, and particularly for the greatest love explanation that was ever penned — 1 Corinthians 13. Most marriage ceremonies include those words. If only we practiced what we heard and learned. Still focusing on this love month, would you join me in reading these words as if you\u2019re seeing them for the very first time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Love is patient and kind; does not envy or boast;
isn\u2019t arrogant or rude; doesn\u2019t insist on its own way;
isn\u2019t irritable or resentful; doesn\u2019t rejoice at wrongdoing;
rejoices with the truth; bears all things; believes all things;
hopes all things; endures all things. Love never fails.”
{1 Corinthians 13:4-7}<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the entire chapter, love is an action word, not emotion. Love is something we do, not feel. It\u2019s a game changer. At all times \u2014 and regardless of circumstances \u2014 we\u2019re called to love others. And not just others, we\u2019re called to love our enemies {Matthew 5:43-48}! (Gasp!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can we love our teenage children when they defy and disobey us? When a friend betrays our confidence? When a co-worker undermines our decisions? When our spouse leaves our marriage and our family in shambles? How can we love them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only way we can love them is through the supernatural love of God. We don\u2019t know if Jesus FELT love for the people who failed Him and treated Him horrifically, but we do have a glimpse into HOW He demonstrated His love: “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d (Romans 5:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe someone is making it difficult for you to love them and it is hard for you to read 1 Corinthians 13 and think \u201ceasy-peasy!” Can I ask you to try something? Please re-read 1 Corinthians 13 and practice the ways you can show love to those who make it difficult to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we don\u2019t feel love, we can still be patient and kind. We can be humble and enduring. Not easy \u2013 but through the strength of Christ, we can do ALL THINGS \u2013 even loving the unlovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Got some unlovable people that you\u2019ve been withholding love from? Thanks be to our Lord Who loves us enough, not just to command us to love others but to make a way for us to love unlovables. We CAN love, because of His great love for us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My son is a speed reader. He must be. With his businesses and on the board of several companies, he must read and review tons of documents and correspondence. If he wasn\u2019t a speed reader, he\u2019d be bogged down with more paperwork than he could handle. I\u2019ve become a speed reader, too! And there lies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25921,25938,1],"tags":[1018,25935,1210,1769,25936,14167,40,132,25913,4619,4620,12352,12347,25937],"class_list":["post-17569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-corinthians-13","category-love-is-action","category-uncategorized","tag-1-corinthians-13","tag-bible-in-a-year","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-father-mike-schmidt","tag-gods-love-3","tag-inspiration","tag-love","tag-love-is-action","tag-love-is-kind","tag-love-is-patient","tag-love-others","tag-speed-reader","tag-study-gods-word"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17596,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569\/revisions\/17596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}