If I speak in the tongues Or languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13, NIV
Dear Christian,
Driving in Austin is not a pleasant experience. There’s a road that I regularly drive on called ‘Parmer’. Now, Parmer is a road that once you get north of MoPac turns to a 60 mile an hour zone. A majority of the time that I spend driving is in that 60mph zone. So please, can someone tell me why my average speed on that road is 40 or 50? I’ve never driven in a place that grid locks all the lanes so that you can’t even go the speed limit around someone. Instead, everyone just boo-bops along texting on their cell phone.
I’m not going to lie, I regularly get road rage. I bang on my steering wheel and yell ‘COME ON!’ More often than I’d like to admit.
Unfortunately, in those moments, I’m dishonoring the other drivers around me.
Dishonor doesn’t just have to be whether or not you bad talk someone behind their back. It’s the attitude you have towards people. Christ-like love does not dishonor others. It is not self seeking – even if that means simply going the speed limit to pick up your kids during daycare.
You see, dishonor is so easy to fall in to. It’s part of the human condition. But God’s love isn’t like that. God’s love brings honor and respect. Even when we don’t deserve it.
What dishonorable traps do you find yourself falling in to?
With honor,
Ashley
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