Since last September some men I have known for about 40 years, and I have been studying 1 Corinthians. We meet each week online and compare notes. It is a good time. There is no pretense. In the early part of last October, during my quiet time I was reflecting on part of 1 Corinthians 13. Specifically, verses 5 and 7 (here @ BibleGateway).
The notion that love, “does not seek it’s own,” caught my attention. It made me think of Philippians 2:3 (here @ BibleGateway). The idea that we are to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than” ourselves, seemed to echo Paul’s thought in 1 Corinthians.
That thought – the “nothing” – took me to Philippians 4:6 – 7 (here @ BibleGateway), we are to “be anxious for nothing”.
As I pondered these three passages, I concluded that these instructions are impossible for me to do. I am not sure I have ever had an unselfish thought, if so, it was probably by mistake, in a moment of weakness. The truth is that in my own strength I can’t. Without Christ in me, without His strength, without His enabling grace, and without the leading and transformation of the Holy Spirit – there is no way.
I am grateful that He is patient with the process of moving me in these directions.
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