Today’s scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Bradley Compton):
Love is a confusing phenomenon. What is it? Frequently I feel certain ways, do certain things, and attribute them to love only to see them as prideful or self-serving in retrospect. Our ambiguous use of “love” to denote so many different things certainly doesn’t help this confusion. “I love your haircut.” “I LOVE this song!” “I love you, son.” “I love you so much . . . will you marry me?” The language in which the New Testament was originally written brings some conceptual clarity on the matter. However, conceptual clarity only helps us see so far. Experiencing real love discloses so much more; but beyond this experience today’s scripture written by Paul promises more even still.
Ancient Greek distinguishes four kinds of love. Eros denotes romantic love; we see it as the root of “erotic.” Obviously, something wonderful would be missing from the world without eros, but today’s scripture speaks of another kind of love. Philia refers to comradery — think Philadelphia, city of brotherly love — not necessarily biological kinship, but rather friendship. I can’t imagine a life devoid of friendship, but this is also not the kind of love Paul describes. Then there’s storge: familial love. You might recall in Matthew 5 when Jesus says “Love your enemies . . . For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? . . . Do not the tax collectors [and Gentiles] do the same?” The love Jesus demands, about which Paul reiterated, is agape — a transcendent, divine love.
This may seem tangential, but there is no better negative illustration to drive the point home: do an online image or video query with the words “Hitler,” “children,” and “animals.” The closest embodiment of the Antichrist to have lived on this earth within at least the last few centuries had a well-documented soft heart for puppies and little tikes (as long as they fell within narrow genetic parameters).
Make no mistake, many people are so broken that they may find erotic, friendly, and familial love lacking in themselves; nevertheless, we witness these forms of love in abundance — so much so that it hardly seems necessary to develop a religion or to bear crosses to cultivate them. Moreover, if these three kinds of love could save us or give us a glimpse of eternal life, it seems unlikely that we’d turn to Jesus as we do. We have spiritual leaders who can see further than we can. They reach us with words and deeds that give a glimpse of heaven where love — agape love — like a holy blood transfusion, fills us up so completely that the bitterness, fear, and strife within is gone. Although I struggle with doubt daily, I find encouragement in Paul’s assertion that whatever of love and heaven we see now, it’s as though we’re seeing them through a lens of dark glass compared to how we will see them in eternity.
Thought for the day: God, help me see others as you see them, and love them as you love them: selflessly, seamlessly, and without condition. I know only by doing so will I get even a glimpse of heaven before I die — a glimpse alone that makes life worth living.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.