Love That’s Enough

We all know 1 Corinthians 13, don’t we? I used to have it memorized. I kind of have it memorized now. I sang it in a wedding once.

But I read it in the Amplified version one time, and something stuck out to me that I hadn’t really gotten out of it before. Actually, Gloria Copeland commented on it, and I thought about it later.

Here is 1 Corinthians 13:5 in the Amplified:

5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

Are you ever touchy?

Or fretful?

Or resentful?

Uh, my hand’s up on each one. Especially touchy. You know, when you feel kind of moody and don’t really want anybody to touch you. When you feel like you hate everybody.

Okay, that’s a little more than touchy, isn’t it? Well, I hate to admit it, but every once in a while, I don’t want anybody near me. And I can even pull away from one of my children when they try to come close. I really hate to admit that. And later, I feel so bad about it.

So I see my lack of love, and I take it to the Lord and ask Him to help me love at all times. I ask Him to help me to stop being so prickly. I really don’t want to be that way. And I can’t blame it on hormones. They might be part of the problem, but if the Lord told us to love with the kind of love that is never touchy, fretful or resentful, then He obviously intends to give us the power and enough love to do it. He has to give us His love in order to love perfectly. So that’s what I will do. Ask Him to fill me with His love. I know my love isn’t big enough.

But God’s is.