Struggles With Love

This is from my pastor's blog (which is pretty great, by the way!)

Sometimes I Struggle With Love
I had the opportunity to be a part of a couple of weddings this weekend. As usual, 1 Corinthians 13 was one of the selected scriptures. Derek and Bonnie asked me to read it in the Message translation and I loved it. I have read it a few times since then and it gave me a fresh perspective on this passage.

1 Corinthians 13: 3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
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.

So here is what I want us to discuss today. When you read through the list which aspect of “love” do you struggle with?

For me it was, “love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have”. I have struggled with this on and off throughout my entire life. I’m trying to understand that part of loving God and loving people is learning to be “content” with who I am and what I have.

As long as I WANT your personality, your house, your gift mix, your bank account, your family situation, your health, your job, your friends….your life, than I can’t really love you in the way God has designed me to love you.

So there’s my struggle. How about you?

join the conversation,
Pete
http://withoutwax.tv/2008/05/13/sometimes-i-struggle-with-love/

I often find myself reading his blogs thinking “Is he writing this specifically for me?” Today was definitely one of those days. I definitely struggle with “Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.” I feel like I constantly want something I don’t have. But the one that really hit home was “Trusts God always.” Sure, it’s easy to trust that God has a plan for our lives. But when something doesn’t go the way we want it to, or we don’t like the valleys and mountains we have to walk through to get there, sometimes it’s more familiar to try to trust our own instincts. I find myself asking the question of how we get out of that spot. How am I testing my faith daily? And am I really trusting, or just wishfully hoping that things will turn out a certain way?