What does Love look like?

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

1 Corinthians 13

1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I went to a wedding this weekend and this passage was prominently featured. That is no surprise, but what was a little different was how this thought came into my head. While this couple was celebrating their love for each other, and we were there to share in the joy, God was talking to me about love for others, and not a romantic type of love.Later that evening, my daughter was listening to "Under Pressure" by Queen. The last verse of that song really rips at my heart in light of what we construe love to be.

Look at the song lyrics:

Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie

Um boom ba bay
Um boom ba bay
Um Um boom ba bay bay

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

Um ba ba bay
Um ba ba bay
Dee day duh
Ee day duh
thats ok

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Tomorrow takes me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Day day day
da da dup bup bup
Okay

Chippin' around
kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
Ee do bay bup
Ee do bay ba bup
Ee do bup
Bay bup
People on streets
Dee da dee da day
People on streets
Dee da dee da dee da dee da

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Tomorrow takes me high high higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Turned away from it all
Like the blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn
Why why why?

(Love, love, love, love)

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love give love give love?
Give love give love give love give love give love give love?
Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care
For the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
this is our sound

Under Pressure
Under Pressure
Pressure

Love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night. That goes right along with verse 7 where love always protects. What a thought that is for the church. To care for the forgotten, downtrodden and written off. I know many churches do this. I pray that God would make that the burden of my heart. That wherever God calls me to minister that we have a burden for people, and just not good tithers (I was once asked by a board member to bring those kind of people in an outreach program we were launching). Rather, we need to focus on people who need Jesus, not people who need a new church home.

God make it the mission of the church to reach the people on the edge of the night. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.