Weekly Meditation October 18th

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Weekly Meditation
By Val Jackson


1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.


Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The Trump Card

I've always had difficulty with the concept of unconditional love. It feels unnatural and unrealistic to me. I suspect others feel the same and that is understandable. We live in a competitive world. Value and lovability are linked closely to talents, appearance, possessions, influence, knowledge, and good works.

This biblical passage teaches about the characteristics and importance of unconditional love. Unconditional love is patient, kind, not envious, arrogant or rude. In the hierarchy of desirable traits and practices, unconditional love is above all others. All others are hollow without it and only have true value with it. Unconditional love, not strength, bears all things. Unconditional love, not faith, believes and hopes all things. Unconditional love, not power, endures all things. It is the only thing that will never end. Unconditional love is the trump card in the deck.

As spiritual children, it is difficult to practice unconditional love. We tend to be self-engrossed and shortsighted. We want others to earn our love. Sometimes, we can't love ourselves unless we've "earned it". But we are encouraged to mature from children to spiritual adults. We are encouraged to rise above the temporary and the incomplete and embody a trait which has no shelf life.

God is unconditional love and unconditional love is God. Unconditional love is like a magnet. As human beings we need and are drawn to it. It makes both the giver and the recipient whole and complete. When we practice unconditional love, we practice God.

Lord, help our church body to be the trump card in our community. Let us exemplify what it means to love others without conditions and agendas.

Lord, help me, as an individual, to remember that you have equipped me with your trump card. As I interact with others, let me ask myself, "Is the trump card on the table?"