“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.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8)
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This is hands down one of my favorite passages. I realize that loving people isn’t natural for us if they don’t love us back — I like to think I try to love everyone but without emptying myself of things that aren’t of Jesus, there’s no way I can love with His endless capacity.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling there’s been much talk/scrutiny about gay marriage. I grew up in a church setting so I always knew in the back of my mind that somewhere in the Bible it says that marriage is between a man and woman. I have a few friends who are gay who I love with all of my heart so I thought they deserved to be happy. People have asked me what my view on it is and at first I didn’t want to answer because I didn’t know. I thought ‘to each his own’ until reading Ephesians 5 the other day where there’s a passage about imitating Christ. What does imitating Christ even mean?
Jesus desires for us to follow Him even when we don’t understand — for our hearts to break for what breaks His heart. My heart hurt a little (not gonna lie) when the law was passed because I knew Jesus calls for marriage to be between a man and a woman. But at the same time my heart was a little happy too because I felt like it wasn’t up to me to decide who gets to marry. Love is love right? What would Jesus say to the gay people? He would tell them that He loves them and accepts them. Because God is love, He would. The Bible also states that homosexuality is a sin. It’s tough for me to explain that to people esp gay friends because that kind of stuff is a really tricky/touchy subject that I haven’t fully comprehended yet. I don’t really even know why being gay is a sin. Honestly I love gay people so much and they are truly some of the coolest people I met.
With the new gay rights passed, all I can do is pray and have Him explain to me what He wants me to believe instead of following along with what the world says or what I feel is right. And for me to trust and be okay with that and simply love those around me. Love is a verb, so much more than it is a feeling. In fact it’s not a feeling. With the sin in this world, as sinners it’s up to us to not judge those who are different and embrace them completely. After all, God is love and He will always provide when we are confused and don’t know what to do.
seek first the kingdom of God. 