2022_04_04 Insight Post- Kim Feld

In 1 Thessalonians chapters 3 and 4, Paul continues his encouragement for the new believers. First, Paul is praying that the obstacles will be removed so that he can visit them soon. Then he prays that their love for those around them would grow. The Message gives a great visual in 1 Thessalonians 3:

^11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.

Love is a big deal to Paul. He writes about God’s love and/or our love for others in every letter he wrote. In the NIV translation, according to BibleGateway (n.d.), Paul uses the word “love” 122 times in his 13 letters (some scholars believe he also wrote the book of Hebrews, whose author is not identified. If he did, that brings the total up to 127 times in 14 letters.) When Paul lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, love is first on the list. Paul penned 1 Corinthians 13, often referred to as the “love chapter,” used in countless wedding ceremonies.

What if we really took love seriously? What if we made a habit of praying that God would fill us with so much love that it splashed over everyone we encountered? Would it change us? Would it change our world? I believe it would.

Love is not easy. If it were, everyone would be masters at it. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells us that love is patient and kind, not envying and boastful. He even goes so far as to say that nothing that we do matters without love. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:3-7 in The Message:

“Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.”

This is the kind of love Paul is praying for the Thessalonian believers. Who wouldn’t want to be splashed with that? This is so convicting to me because I know how far I must go to live a life of love like this. But because love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit living within me as a follower of Christ, it’s something I can cultivate and develop. This kind of love changes the world. And it changes one life at a time.

Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach

Reference: BibleGateway. (n.d.). Love: New International Version. https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NIV&quicksearch=love&begin=47&end=73