I Stand Corrected

I have been taught, and therefore, always believed that you can love a person without liking a person. Love is an action, not a feeling, or emotion. Consequently, I should be able to command my love, even when the object of my love is disliked. Today, I have been corrected.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Paul says, "I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. _If I give away all I have, and _if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." What struck me about this passage is the fact that actions can be done without love, especially actions of giving to someone in need, or self-sacrifice. Therefore, love is more than an action. It does involve emotions and feelings.

One only has to look to Jesus for our example of love. The Bible tells us that Jesus died for us while we were his enemies. I can't imagine Jesus saying, "I don't like these people, but I am going to love them anyway." I believe, as D.A.Carson so eloquently stated, "Christ love for us is not grounded in our loveliness, but in his own character. His love is not merely sentimental, yet is charged with incalculable affection and warmth. It is resolute in its self-sacrifice, but never merely mechanical self-discipline."

My old way of thinking falls short of the example of Jesus. Dear Lord, help me to love others as you have loved me. Forgive me for the times that I have done actions without any love.