The Song 'Oh Love of God' “Oh love of God so rich and pure, so measureless and strong.
It shall forever more endure, the saints and angels song.”
Translation from 'The Message'
1 Corinthians 13
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
This is the plan of God that we, '..love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind and our neighbor as ourselves.' This challenge is a life long task. But one that has great rewards. The following is a quote from C.S. Lewis.
“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable.
Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.
If you make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy or at least to the risk of tragedy is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell”
It is always interesting to see people who do not love themselves. Scripture is very plain that to love others you must love yourself first. To love yourself is to love the God inside of you and recognize the precious vessel He has made with His own hands. Our problem is many times we look at the -minus in our lives and not the +plus. What we reflect to others has to be real in our own lives. It is not just words but a heartfelt love, a pure love that can only come from God as we allow Him to work in our lives. GOD IS LOVE!!
If you make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy or at least to the risk of tragedy is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell”
