1 CORINTHIANS 14:1a – “Pursue love.”

THEME OF THE DAY: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IN TWO WORDS.  How would we answer the theme of today’s devotion?  Not easy, is it?  Yes, I know. There is a whole lot involved when giving a thorough answer to what is the Christian life. But practically and simply, we can refine it to two words.

So, what are your two words?  My initial answer was “Obey God.”  Sounds spiritual, and it is. Sounds biblical, and it is but it is also vague.  Now before you disagree, think with me.  Obey God?  Okay, which commandments?  There are lots of them.  And here is the vagueness.  We know obedience is the call of every Christian from God.  Yet, it is so easy to simply be good moral Christians and fall short of the command “obey God.”  Let me illustrate.

Look at the past seven days of your life. If that is too far back for “muscle memory” to exercise, go back to yesterday.  Could you provide for anyone that asks of you a precise commandment of God you intentionally put into action?  If you struggle, the odds are you lived morally upright but might have fallen short of intentional obedience to God by practicing specific commands. So,  I had to rethink my answer to the theme of the day.  I now embrace today’s scripture – pursue God.

In the preceding chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul gave a detailed description of the love God expects us to practice. Immediately following, he gives this two-word command – pursue love.

In the command – pursue love – is the whole of the Christian life.  Remember the dialogue Jesus had with a lawyer – “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets”” (Matthew 22:34-40).  Jesus simplifies all of life to pursuing love for God and people.  And here are two ways we may know if we are pursuing love as the practice of the Christian life.

First, people matter. People are the priorities in our lives. Not projects, tasks, accomplishments, material gain, social status, prestige, acclaim, or anything else.  Jesus came for people. Jesus’ mission is about people. And to love God means we love people which means putting others as the highest of priorities in our lives.  The Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians addresses this – “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5).  Are we putting the interests of Christ and thus people ahead of our own?  That is pursuing love, and it isn’t an “off again, on again” practice. It is the way we live – daily.

Another indicator we are pursuing love is the practice of self-denial.  Jesus made it clear to follow Him demands a life of sacrifice of oneself and that daily (Luke 9:23). We no longer live for the gratification of ourselves. Our goals, desires, plans, and futures are crucified with Christ to daily be replaced by His goals, desires, plans, and futures.  This will always include the spiritual world over the temporal with the emphasis on investing in people.

So, the Christian life in two words.  What is your answer now?  I like pursue love. I think I will stay there.

PRAYER: Father, may my life be simplified, not made easy, but simple by loving You and loving people.

REFLECTION: The practice of biblical love is the practice of biblical Christianity to God and all people.”