Love
This is an audio recording of Love the Day 9 entry in Today for Seafarers (Vol. 1) devotional by Jason Zuidema.
Listen to the audio by Sheila Margerrison or read the text below:
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have
love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I
have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but
do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor
and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not
have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will
cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there
is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we
prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part
disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I
put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I
know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.”
Love is one of the most misunderstood ideas in the world. In every language of the world, popular artists sing about the wonderful feeling they call love. It is true that love can be felt, but love is more than a feeling. In fact, true love—at least as we read about it in Scripture—is seen in loving actions. Love is not just something we feel, but something we show by our actions. And others can see it.
We might tend to think love is especially for young people who are attracted to each other. They are “in love, ” we often say. Yet as we get older, we realize how little we really know about true love when we are young. From years of experience, we see how much work love actually involves.
The word for “love” in the original language of the Bible refers to unselfish love with no strings attached. It points more to the kind of love that a parent has for a child than that of two young people in love. A mother or father knows that taking care of a baby is a great deal of work, especially in the middle of the night when the newborn needs food, comfort, or a clean diaper. Yet these parents serve their child out of their love.
God loves us in this way. We are like helpless children. Yet he loves us. He cares for us in a tender and beautiful way. One of the most well-known verses in the Bible says that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” for us (John 3:16).
To God, love is not just a feeling; it’s an action. He gave of himself so that we could be free of the problem of sin.
For Further Thought
Why is it important for us to know that love is more than just a feeling?
What loving actions have you seen from family members or shipmates?
How do you see God’s love at work in your life?
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for giving your Son to save us. Please forgive me when I do not love others as you have loved me. Help me to be kind and helpful, and to be faithful in my work. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
