Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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Reflection Questions:
Love does not envy, Paul writes. How could it? Love does not delight in evil – but one of envy’s worst qualities is the hidden delight we feel when something bad happens to a person we envy. Love keeps no record of wrongs – envy is fixated on keeping score. Love is kind – sadly, envy feels that it can’t afford the luxury of kindness.
- In which of your day-to-day relationships are you able to live out most of the qualities of love that Paul lists readily and easily? In which relationships is it a struggle to show these qualities, even with gritted teeth? How can God’s love help us to grow in our capacity to love more naturally?
- Paul also says that love does not boast and is not self-seeking. Have you ever wished that others would envy something about you or your life? Is it possible that one big reason we are tempted by boasting and self-seeking is a desire to produce envy in others?
Read Correy Trupp’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com
Weekly Prayer:
O God, thank you for valuing me, even when I struggle to value myself. Help me to love myself as you have loved me. Give me contentment in being the person you’ve made me to be, and in serving you and others the ways I am gifted to do. Then, help me to love my neighbor as I love myself. I thank you that your ways are so much higher and greater than mine. Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.
