How do we become people marked by the love of God?
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Shaping Spirit,
Yesterday we meditated on the wondrous love of God.
Today we ponder how that love changes us.
We know when we read 1 Corinthians 13
that it wasn’t originally written for a wedding;
it was written to gently rebuke the Corinthians
for a notable lack of love.
Humbly we come to you,
asking that your love would change us,
that we might not be
“noisy gongs”
and “clanging cymbals” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Through your transforming power,
may we not become “nothing,”
people who seem outwardly spiritual
but who have no love inside (1 Cor. 13:2-3).
Instead, may we become people
marked by the love of God:
[With each of these characteristics, name specific situations and/or specific people with whom you’d like to see the Spirit change you]:
Patient and kind
Does not envy or boast
Is not arrogant or rude
Does not insist on its own way
Is not irritable or resentful
Does not rejoice at wrongdoing
Rejoices with the truth
Bears all things
Believes all things
Hopes all things
Endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Holy Spirit, because the love of God never ends,
we know you will never stop interceding for us
to become more loving,
more like Christ.
We thank you for this good news
and pray that we will see the fruit of your love
blossoming in our lives
and spreading its fragrant aroma.
In Jesus’ perfectly loving name. Amen.
Read 1 Corinthians 13.
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