Love is Sacrifice, Not Tolerance
January 28, 2015
Steven Ackley, Associate Pastor | College & Young Adults
The word love is often overused in our culture, and likely
that is because it is misunderstood. Love is sometimes thought to be
demonstrating interest in something, kindness, or simply not being too hateful.
The Bible says love is much more than that and goes much deeper than that.
1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that who we are and what we do
are of no value without love. Paul also takes the opportunity to unpack a
picture of precisely what this love is. True love seeks the God-honoring best
of others, no matter what the cost for myself. True love doesn’t require
someone earn my affection, but requires me to surrender my own affection. True
love is best understood as sacrifice, not tolerance.
The last time you said or thought, “I love _____,” what did
you mean? Did you mean to say, “I’m interested in you” or did you mean to say,
“I’m willing to seek your best no matter what it costs me.” According to Paul,
if this type of love is neither our motivation nor our practice, we are nothing
and what we do amounts to nothing. Therefore if we desire to have meaning and
significance in our lives, let us love one another.
TWEET
THIS: Love is sacrifice, not tolerance. #UpperRoom
ADDITIONAL
SCRIPTURES: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
