Love the Action Word

   In preparing a lesson for Valentine's day I was rereading I Corinthians 13. It assigns concrete actions to the concept of love. Not one of the listed actions is easy. It is hard to be patient. Every one of us wants what we want. No one wants to put our priorities second to someone else's priorities, but that is what patience is. Patience is not fun, ever. When our children were just babies an older acquaintance told us that in raising children if you just don't know what to do in a situation pick the path that is the most painful for you the parent, the not fun answer is usually the right path. That is putting the action in love.

   When I teach a lesson revolving around I Corinthians chapter 13, I break it into several week. To list all 15 characteristic of love is too much to take in. I often joke with the kids and say let's just try to do the first five that will be hard enough. If we could be patient, be kind, not do things because we are envious, not boast,  not act out of pride we could really change things If we can master those first five characteristics of love our youth group, our families, our relationships would thrive.Our actions  would be closer to what Jesus had in mind when he said to love your neighbor.

   In our role as parents we have to be more cautious than we have to be in other relationships. Parents have the power so we have the ability to be the opposite of love; we can be impatient, we can be rude, we can be unkind, we can become angry easily and there is very little immediate consequences. That is why power is corrosive, it allows the powerful to say one thing and do another. As parents we can't afford that luxury. We can't make decisions because it is comfortable, rather we need to scrutinize the love we have for our children and make sure we are not just using our words, but also using our lives to live love in action the way it is set forth in God's word.