Anyone For Patience?

2020 has been a year of disappointments and frustrations; our patience has been tested time and again, and the Christmas season provides plenty of extra opportunities: traffic jams, busy shops, delayed post, difficult relatives…

As Paul turns in his description of love from negatives to positives, he begins with patience, “to be long-tempered” or “bear with” one another. There are many good examples of patience in the Bible; Sinclair highlights Joseph’s experiences of slavery and his time as Prime Minister of Egypt (Genesis 37-50). Joseph’s life was painful and difficult, but through it all, God was teaching him how to love. Because of this, he was able to genuinely reconcile with his brothers; Joseph understood that God’s purposes are always good, and that he had used their evil acts for the good of many (Genesis 50:20-21).

It is God’s good purpose for each of us to become more like Christ every day. Sinclair writes, “Love is not a commodity that comes down from heaven waiting to be unwrapped. No—it is actively exercising patience with other people and with the circumstances God has ordained. It is being able to take the long-term view, knowing that nothing can happen to us without the will of our heavenly Father. Love acts and reacts without tensing up in irritation because life isn’t fair, without blaming other people for what we are experiencing, and without planning how we’ll get even.”

God demonstrated his patience with us by sending Jesus to be born at precisely the right time. Christ demonstrated it throughout his life, being gracious towards those who opposed him, bearing with his faltering disciples, suffering through the shame and agony of the cross. And he continues to show be longsuffering with each of us every day as we try (and often fail) to imitate his patient love.

Today, take some time to think about who or what has tested your patience over the last few days. How did you respond? How might Christ have responded if he were in your place? Pray for opportunities to practice godly patience in all circumstances.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.

The Dead Giveaway

Sinclair writes, “Sacrifice. I lost count of the number of sermons and talks I heard in those days about taking up the cross to follow Jesus, about counting the cost, about not turning back, about giving everything to Christ. But something must have changed since then. These days I hardly ever hear a message or see a book that majors on sacrifice.”

In the modern West, we may not be called to literally “deliver up [our bodies] to be burned” as so many Christians in our history were, or as those in other countries are today. But we are still called to sacrifice.

Paul doesn’t start this verse with the call to martyrdom, but with the call to give away all our possessions. Maybe this hits closer to home for us. How would we feel if Jesus asked us to do that? Or maybe we feel that we do our fair share of sacrifice; Paul then challenges us to consider our motives. If we are not driven by love, if we instead think that our sacrifices themselves are impressive to God, we “gain nothing.”

No one has sacrificed more than Christ. He gave everything he had to live among us. He gave up his life on the cross to save us. Why? Because he loved us.

He came because he loved us. He died because he loved us. He loved us because he loved us. To lose sight of this truth is to lose our love for him, and for others. If we are to learn to live lovingly and sacrificially, we must look first to Jesus, who did both perfectly.

Today, why not reflect on how you feel you are (or ought to be) making a sacrifice. Has your attitude on this been challenged? Pray for wisdom and strength to live lovingly and sacrificially like Jesus.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.

Glittering Powers

Paul continues to help us understand what love is by exploring what it isn’t. Some people are gifted with the ability to speak God’s word in a timely and challenging way, understand things that would normally be beyond them, and do extraordinary things through their faith in Jesus, but without love, all these things are worthless.

We may know someone who seems particularly gifted in these ways, and might be tempted to be in awe of them, assuming they must be super spiritual and deserving of our support. But we mustn’t be naive: someone can have all these gifts and signs, yet be empty of love. Jesus himself said:

On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Matthew 7:22-23

Sinclair writes, “…when Christ gives you a gift, it will be a blessing to you; but the gift isn’t primarily for you. It is to enable you to express your love for him by serving others. Paul had these gifts in abundance. But whenever he used them he would say, We are your servants (bond-slaves) for Jesus’ sake (for example, see 2 Corinthians 4:5).”

But Paul is not the supreme example of self-renouncing, others-serving love: Jesus Christ is. He had all prophetic powers, understood all mysteries and all knowledge, had mountain-moving faith, but because he loved us, he laid those things aside and came down to us. He lived among us as a man, and died in our place.

Today, think about whether you’ve ever felt that your gifts are going unrecognised or unused. Why have you felt that way? What can you remind yourself of next time that happens? Thank God for the opportunities he gives you to serve him, and ask him to fill your heart with love for those around you.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.

Of Men and Angels

Paul begins his description of love by telling us what it isn’t. Love, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1, isn’t just having great gifts.

Some people in the Corinthian church were very proud of their God-given abilities, particularly being able to speak in other languages. Some might have even spoken an ‘Angel’ language! But Paul makes it clear that even an impressive gift like that is only a loud, unpleasant noise if it isn’t accompanied by genuine love.

Sinclair writes, “Paul valued the gifts of the Spirit, but… his first question at a church-membership interview would not be about your gifts. He’d want to know about your love—about how you’d want to serve others for Jesus’ sake… You might be a very gifted teacher. You may be applauded as a musician. You might be admired for your spiritual prayers. But none of that matters if you do not love.”

As we began by saying yesterday, 1 Corinthians 13 is ultimately a description of Jesus—love personified. Whether or not some of the people in Corinth could speak ‘Angel’, Jesus certainly could. When he hung on the cross, he could have called angels to save him, but he chose to die, saving us instead.

Whatever gifts we have, we are called to use them for the good of others, as Jesus did. Sinclair challenges us by saying that love means being “willing to do things that are uncomfortable or inconvenient for you, or that go unnoticed.” Today, take some time to consider whether you are more concerned with using your gifts, or with loving others. Thank God for the gifts he has given you, and ask him to help you use them to serve and love other people.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.

Love Came Down at Christmas

Welcome to the start of our Advent Devotionals. Each day during December, we will be posting short thoughts based on Sinclair Ferguson’s Love Came Down at Christmas, a phrase-by-phrase meditation on 1 Corinthians 13.

In his introduction to the book, Sinclair talks about how the theme of love is everywhere at Christmas, but that our world doesn’t really understand that Christmas exists only because of love. We could answer the question, “What do you mean by ‘love’?” with just two words: Jesus Christ.

Jesu shows us what love is, and how to we are to show love to others. Sinclair writes, “…what we are called to be and do is rooted in who God is and what he has done for us in Christ.”

So before we begin looking at the individual phrases of 1 Corinthians 13, all the different and wonderful things Paul says about love, why not take time today to read the whole chapter out loud? Then read it through again, but when you get to the second paragraph, replace ‘love’ or ‘it’ with your name. Does it sound true? Or do some of the phrases challenge you? Read it through one last time, but when you get to the second paragraph, replace ‘love’ and ‘it’ with Jesus. This is the truth. Jesus Christ is perfect love. 

When we slow down to read these words and think about how they apply to us, we will be confronted by how far short we fall. But the Christmas story is meant to challenge us, and make us think about love in a new way.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.