Love Extravagantly

These words about love are some of the most oft cited by Christians and people of every or no religious conviction. I came across these words again today in the Message- and this time I felt like they really sunk in. That's the incredible thing about great literature and wisdom- it never gets old. The more you read it or hear it, the more you get it- the more real and revealing the truth becomes. 

I hope that these words might expose and reveal a little bit of the mystery to you...

"Love never gives up.

Love cares for more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut. 

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day, praying in tongues will end, understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete appears, our incomplete will be cancelled...

But for now, until that completeness, we have three things to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

Corinthians 13