Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7
Jonathan Edwards concludes Chapter 1, “Love the Sum of All Virtue,” by listing three applications of the doctrine of love.
1. To examine yourself
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to examine yourself. As you read, ask:
- Who am I loving? Many people? Only a few? Is my love for God leading me to also love people?
- Do I delight in God? Am I rejoicing in him as the one I love?
- Do I want to help others? Do I turn that desire into deeds?
2. To learn from
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to learn from. Let it teach you what the true Christian spirit is, the true nature of Christ’s kingdom – love and peace. Christ taught much on love, and his apostles continued those teachings.
Love is the principal thing that the gospel dwells on when speaking of God, and of Christ.
Learn about the love of the Father for the Son, and the love from the Son to the Father. Learn how Christ’s love bore fruit in great deeds and obedience to his Father’s will. If you are one with them, you’ll not only profess love, but your life experiences will demonstrate love.
If persons have the true light of heaven let into their souls, it is not a light without heat. Divine knowledge and divine love go together.
Learn that a life of love produces a pleasant life. Religion alone doesn’t, but true Christianity flourishes through its spirit of love and peace. Kindness to neighbors; an amiable spirit; loving even to enemies.
An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as if one should speak of dark brightness, or a false truth!
3. To exhort you to action
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to inspire you to grow in this spirit of love.
If love is so great a thing in Christianity, so essential and distinguishing, yea, the very sum of all Christian virtue, then surely those that profess themselves Christians should live in love, and abound in the works of love, for no words are so becoming as those of love.
How do you show love to others? How are you advancing the kingdom for God’s glory? Are you open to opportunities without excuse?
If your heart is full of love, it will find vent; you will find or make ways enough to express your love in deeds. When a fountain abounds in water, it will send forth streams.
…The labor of love is the main business of the Christian life.
Little children, let us not love in word or talk
but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18
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for much more on Ch 1
1 comment:
Great job putting this into the vernacular! I love what you do with these chapters.
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