God is love. (1 John 4:16b)

The following thoughts are taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  I’m substituting the word “God” for the word “love.”  I don’t think this is a perversion of the context of scripture because of the declaration above found in 1 John, but I do think it’s a highly prophetic exercise that, if not processed in an etherial fashion, has the potential to transform lives.  I challenge you not to gloss over these concepts just because you’ve heard them before.  Really dig in, and let the Holy Spirit minister this to you at the heart level.

God is patient.  God is kind.

He knows that you are a perpetual work in progress, and that you are committed to becoming like Him in the long run.  He also knows that you have many layers of self to throw off in the process, and He’s not rushing you through it.  His chastisement is actually His kindness and work.  He’s committed to not leaving you like you are. 

God does not envy.  He does not boast.  He is not proud. 

Why should he envy a man?  He is creator, and all else is created.  He doesn’t boast because His words are Spirit and Life, full of creative power.  He doesn’t boast because boasting is the act of over-inflating one’s own importance, and God is not capable of doing such a thing.  How can the one who hung the heavens overstate His importance?  He wasn’t proud when He decided to take on the flesh of a man and become born of men.  He wasn’t so proud that He couldn’t become sin for all of us.  Imagine, a Holy God became sin.

He is not easily angered.  He keeps no record of wrongs. 

God is not mostly mad at you.  He’s not mostly disappointed.  He’s not easily angered, and He doesn’t lose hope in you when you fail to meet the high standards of New Testament love.  In fact, He doesn’t even write down your shortcomings.  He purposely forgets them.  When He looks at you, He sees you as righteous, justified, redeemed, and He loves you perfectly.  Nothing you can do will make Him love you more.  Nothing you can do will make Him love you less. 

There are more, but you get the idea.  Ask yourself why the greatest chapter on love in the entire bible ( 1 Corinthians 13) is sandwiched between two of the greatest chapers on power in the bible (1 Corinthians 12 and 14).  It’s because the knowledge of the love of God raises us to pure biblical faith, which results in miracles.

The critical question for our generation–and for every generation–is this:  If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends that you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

I’m living for the reality of a generation rising that will forsake all else for the sake of knowing Him.  I’m exceedingly zealous toward that end.  All over the earth people are arising who are saying, “Nothing is right, nothing is worthy, nothing is entertaining enough for me without the person of Christ.”

Is the church to be relegated to the buildings in which we gather and the ceremonies that we perform, or will we once again connect to Jesus and begin to transform the world from the inside out.  I believe it’s already happening.