Make Insight Your Priority
(And don’t take no for an answer!)
Many years ago I heard Howard Hendricks define Christian maturity as the ability to give and receive love. Giving love is relatively easy to understand but receiving love is much harder to define.
If I chose to believe by faith that I am loved by God directly and indirectly and that I am maturing in receiving that love – how would my life be affected? What if I was loved with perfect patience, perfect kindness, loved without any shred of envy, or boasting, etc?
I wrestled with these concepts when I attempted to personalize 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV). Why not insert your name into these statements and check up on your maturity in giving and receiving love as well?
Maturity in GIVING LOVE
______ is patient
______ is kind
______ does not envy
______ does not boast
______ is not proud
______ is not rude
______ is not self-seeking
______ is not easily angered
______ keeps no record of wrongs
______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
______ always protects
______ always trusts
______ always hopes
______ always perseveres
Maturity in RECEIVING LOVE
______ would feel no pressure
______ would share without reservation
______ would enjoy every good thing
______ would practice genuine humility
______ would serve without hesitation
______ would show gracious sensitivity
______ would harbor no personal agenda
______ would fear no threat
______ would forgive and forget
______ would shun ambiguity and embrace transparency
______ would rest securely
______ would face any challenge
______ would believe the best
______ would never ever give up!
That’s right – if you make Insight your priority,
and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours,
you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
~Proverbs 2:3-5 The Message
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March 2003
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