What is LOVE?
Will l ever find LOVE?
Do we really LOVE each other?
Will he ever LOVE me?
I think most of us have asked ourselves one or maybe all of the questions above. I know I have and perhaps will do in the future.
In the above image, which belongs to a newly-decorated wall in my newly-wed apartment (too many newly things) you can read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. When I chose what I wanted to do with my walls (and after long conversations with my graphic designer husband) I’d been searching long and hard on Pinterest (addictive right?!), and I kept thinking what wording would look nice on my walls. I said, hey, I’m a Christian, why not a verse from the bible? I had picked several short verses but imagining them up there on the wall it seemed to leave a lot of empty space. I finally concluded that this one was the perfect fit.
As I stood and watched today when the handy-man was installing it (oh right, forgot to mention this is not paint as we rent this apartment and don’t want to to through the hassle of repainting, it is vinyl, easy to put on, easy to take off) I kept on reading it over and over and started to feel nervous. Yes, nervous. Well, this is a pretty challenging verse! Jesus was and is all of these adjectives: kind, patient, doesn’t envy, etc. But, am I? What happens when my husband and I get into an argument, will I BE all those things? Will he?
A long time ago, during a church ceremony, a music minister came to visit from Mexico (cannot remember his name!), he was about to play a song on his piano for the congregation and I simply can’t remember the song, but I can remember the verse he cited before he sang. Yes, you guessed it, it was this verse. But, he added a twist to it. He said, well, this verse is nice, it sounds wonderful and many people recite it, many people use it, but do they LIVE it? And he continued…the way we should live it is by reading it out loud, but replacing the word love for your name.
So it would go something like this: MELISSA is kind, MELISSA is patient (WHOA! Stop right there! I’m patient?) Exactly…I couldn’t even get through 5 words when I realized, I’m not all this. I’m definitely not patient, how can I even go on?
I’ve only lived with my wall for a few hours…so I’m not sure how God will use my wall to point me out on all my wrong-doings. I’m sure he put that verse in my head as I was Pinteresting for a reason, a long, sometimes-hard road of this journey called MARRIAGE.
So, before answering all those questions at the beginning, read this verse, memorize this verse, LIVE this verse. I don’t know if as sinning humans we’ll be able to complete what it says, but our command is to be more like Jesus every day.
Either single or married, LIVE 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. And every time you reach a dead end, a road block remember the last part: LOVE NEVER FAILS. Now, exchange LOVE for JESUS and it reads: JESUS NEVER FAILS.