Recommended for you

Start writing a post

Lifestyle

Love Divine, Love Defined

In a world that is changing fast & full of ambiguity, love is not.

Courtney Welch

Jan 02, 2017

Asbury University

Valeria Boltneva

A couple days ago, I overheard a conversation about love. About how there is not enough love in the world nor knowledge of what it means. So how can we love? One woman noted that her idea of love was the giving of oneself.

Looking back, I wish I would have said something. I wish I would have told her about the greatest love I have ever known. A love that is alive and full of grace, one that is always relevant despite cultural norms or differences. A love that the world craves yet at the same time pushes away, clinging to shame and running away to hide its face.

In 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, Paul writes about the attributes of love. And if God is love, that means He embodies each of these characteristics to the degree of perfection. ,

Love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If you ask me, these are some of the most beautiful verses I have ever read. Yet these words of wisdom and truth have been reduced to be only one of many alternatives. I pray that you feel the weight of their significance and reflection of Christ whenever you stumble upon them.

So what does it take to love? To put others before yourself. How can one truly love if self is at the center? Notice that these descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians are not stated for specified circumstances but rather for our day-to-day living. It does not say love is patient and kind if. It does not say when, either.

When it comes to living an abundant life, when it comes to pouring out from the ultimate source of love that's poured into us, it doesn't matter if they got your lunch order wrong or that your flight got delayed. It doesn't matter if your sister or your coworker or your best friend lashed out at you. It doesn't matter that you're the most successful person from your graduate class or that everyone knows it. If you believe in Jesus, the God man of love, you are called to this kind of overflowing, sacrificial love. Without the expectation of anything in return in this world, or for anything in life to become easier.

To give love may be difficult at times, but it is definitely worth it.

Report this Content

This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

Student Life

The 12 Stages Of Course Registration, As Told By "Friends"

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

The State University of New York at Stony Brook

6193

YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less

registration

Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

Florida International University

302774

Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause

StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less

Entertainment

13 Times April Ludgate Perfectly Explained College

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

2007

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

april ludgate

Recommended for you

Love Divine, Love Defined

In a world that is changing fast & full of ambiguity, love is not.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

Told through Parks & Recreation GIFs

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

Trending Topics

Top Creators

Trending Stories

Best of Lifestyle

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments

Subscribe to our
Newsletter