“But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all--love].”
Where does love fit into your list of priorities?
Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you”.
To Jesus, love is the main thing on which we should concentrate.
Love should be number one on our spiritual priority list.
We should study love, pray about love and develop the fruit of love by practicing loving others.
We seek many things in our life. But love is the best thing to seek to excel in.
All of us must become students of love; we must pray that God will reduce us to love.
It took me about 45 years to realize that my priorities were mixed up.
I was not making love the main thing in my life. Love was not my first priority.
Yet the commitment to learn how to walk in love has been the single best decision I have ever made as a Christian.
“By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].”
Love is the trademark (distinctive sign or characteristic) of the Christian.
People should be able to identify us not only by our talk, but also by our walk.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.”
There was a time when I wanted to known as a powerful minister, a person who was successful and popular. I finally came to realize that true power and success is love.
I want people to think of me as someone who loves them.
I want to make them thirsty for God. I want to be a light in their dark places.
“And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment], so that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value.”
Paul prayed that the church in Philippi would abound in love and that their love would display itself in a greater way.
He prayed that they would learn to choose what was excellent and of real value.
He was praying that believers would focus on love, which is the more excellent way.
“Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest].”
Developing a love walk is like digging for gold.
True Christlike love cannot just be seen and picked up.
We must eagerly pursue and seek it.
We need to go after love with all our might and act as if we cannot live without it!
There are degrees of desire. We want many things, but there are only a few things in life we actually want so much that we are willing to commit our life to have them.
If we want to learn about love, we will have to study it.
We will have to read books about it, listen to teaching tapes on it, familiarize ourselves with everything Jesus and the apostles said about it.
If you want to know about love, try to find someone who operates in love and study that individual. Watch how he handles people and difficult or tense situations. Observe how he gives. Examine the fruit in his life.
“And if I have prophetic powers the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).”
There are many people who think they are really something because of what they have accomplished in life, but according to God's words they are nothing unless love has been a priority in their life.
Why did Paul single out love as the greatest thing in the world? Because love never fails.
Love can melt the hardest heart, it can heal the wounds of the broken heart and it can quiet the fears of the anxious heart.
Most of the things we devote our time and energy to are things that are currently passing away, things that will not last, things that are not eternal.
Only love never comes to an end.
I want to put my time and energy into something lasting, don't you?
．∼．∼．∼．∼．∼．∼．∼．∼．
It took me about 45 years to realize that my priorities were mixed up.
(OK. I'm grateful it only took me 30 years then ^^)
從開始的時候，媽媽想必已看到我這個問題吧：
一個錯誤的先後次序，導致我在屬靈上出現不健全的發育。
但她並沒直接指出，反而只是將愛這個題目、很自然地滲透在每次對話中。
深刻有一次，在回答我其他問題的時候，她提到她自己人生的先後次序：
“頭幾次說的聚會，我甚麼都沒有求，我只是對神說：
「神，我要你的愛，我要更擁有你的愛去愛人，
我要行在你的旨意中，我要為你而活。」這是這些了。”
那刻，她臉上流露的真誠，聲音中的渴求，
確實非常深刻地烙印在我心裡。
這幾個月裡，Anavah 媽媽耐心地引導我先認識神的愛，
然後學習愛自己──平衡正面地看待自己，接納自己。
她從沒催迫、要求我去愛人，
但現在，事實上，這是我心裡最大的渴望：
我很希望學習行在愛中，
擁有神的愛，以祂的愛，去愛人。
我知道這不是短時間可以學到，
但我已決定將它成為一生的追求，人生最主要的focus。
我不會再攪錯這個先後次序了－－
惟有愛，才是真正有永恆最高價值！
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