Love is Not About Me

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.”

2 Corinthians 13:4

                Oh but don’t we live in an ego-centric society? I want, I feel, I neeeeeed!!!! With an ever incessant obsession on the self, we have been taught to trample anyone or anything that stands between us and gratification, even if it’s only to satisfy a passing whim.

                What topic are people most eager to discuss? Themselves, of course! Though few would admit it, you can generally tell by the glazes over look in their eyes that  they’re really only waiting for your mouth to stop moving so that they can talk about something truly important – themselves. Have you ever had a “conversation” with someone who cannot stop talking about themselves? They apologize and then ask you a question... about themselves? You know, that age old question, “Well, enough about me. What do you think about my hair?”

                But is that the attitude believers are suppose to have? In John 15, Christ exhorts His disciples:

“This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

And 1 Corinthians 13 gives a pretty definitive visual of what real love looks like, and it’s not self-absorbed. It isn’t concerned with how long you take (suffers long), what you have (envy) or what you think of it (parade itself). Love’s primary focus is on others, first towards God and then towards others. As a believer, my example comes from Christ, who willingly laid down His life for the sheep. My law for living comes from the very Giver of life. And the law is this:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Application: Today I will have at least one conversation and practice “being with” that person, not being concerned about myself but focusing on them.