If I were Jesus...

That was the topic at church on Sunday. It was finished by "I would LOVE."

1 Cor 12:31 says, "And now I will show you the most excellent way." Our pastor translated the word "way" as a path or a roadway.

1 Cor 13 states (yes you can read it for yourself, but here is a reminder of what it is):
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

I'm not trying to preach the bible to anyone, but as many times as I read this verse, I still get more and more truth out of it. I felt convicted when I was listening to the sermon at church. Pastor Ken talked about how in the King James Version of the Bible, LOVE is not mentioned once. Instead, the word charity is used. Charity was described as "action oriented love."

Wait... action orientated love? That means I have to act? Sadly, that is something that I have not been doing lately. I let my emotions rule who I am on a daily basis and rule my actions. Woah.

1 Cor 14 starts off by saying, "Follow the way of love..."
1 Cor 16:14 says, "Do everything in love."

To finish this out, one last phrase said best by Pastor Gilmore.

Love is not an option for us, it's an ought.

(think about that one on a daily basis)