The Divine Conspiracy
Excerpt from "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dalla Willard (p. 183)
[Out of living union with God we discover] love as a life power that has the marvelous many sided expression spelled out by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. But this beautiful statement by Paul is commonly misunderstood in exactly the same legalistic way as is Jesus' Discourse on the Hill.
Love, Paul tells us, is patient, kind, free of jealousy and arrogance, is not rude or self-seeking, is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs, takes no joy in things that are wrong but instead in what is true. It always protects, always accepts, always hopes, and endures everything. And it never quits (1 Cor. 13:4-8) People usually read this, and are taught to read it, as telling them to be patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on - just as they read Jesus' Discourse as telling them not to call others fools, nor look on a woman to lust, not swear, to go the second mile, and so forth.
But Paul is plainly saying... it is love that does these things, not us, and that what we are to do is to "pursue love" (1 Cor. 14:1). As we "catch" love, we then find that these things are after all actually being done by us. These godly actions and behaviors are the result of dwelling in love. We have become the kind of person who is patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on...[However, it is very hard to dwell in love] if you have not been substantially transformed in the depth of your being, in the intricacies of your thoughts, feelings, assurances, and dispositions, in such a way that you are permeated with love. Once that happens [loving others] is not hard. What would be hard is to act the way you did before.
[Jesus] calls us to him to impart himself to us. He does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him.
[Out of living union with God we discover] love as a life power that has the marvelous many sided expression spelled out by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. But this beautiful statement by Paul is commonly misunderstood in exactly the same legalistic way as is Jesus' Discourse on the Hill.
Love, Paul tells us, is patient, kind, free of jealousy and arrogance, is not rude or self-seeking, is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs, takes no joy in things that are wrong but instead in what is true. It always protects, always accepts, always hopes, and endures everything. And it never quits (1 Cor. 13:4-8) People usually read this, and are taught to read it, as telling them to be patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on - just as they read Jesus' Discourse as telling them not to call others fools, nor look on a woman to lust, not swear, to go the second mile, and so forth.
But Paul is plainly saying... it is love that does these things, not us, and that what we are to do is to "pursue love" (1 Cor. 14:1). As we "catch" love, we then find that these things are after all actually being done by us. These godly actions and behaviors are the result of dwelling in love. We have become the kind of person who is patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on...[However, it is very hard to dwell in love] if you have not been substantially transformed in the depth of your being, in the intricacies of your thoughts, feelings, assurances, and dispositions, in such a way that you are permeated with love. Once that happens [loving others] is not hard. What would be hard is to act the way you did before.
[Jesus] calls us to him to impart himself to us. He does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him.
posted by Michelle Coder | 12:00 AM
1 Comments:
[Jesus] calls us to him to impart himself to us. He does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him.
This is very good, nice, call him who you will I think.........I said good bye to Steve from both of us, like he might remember. I told him that we would hold his beauty within our beings, save for beautiful windy days at the beach, when we would fly it like a kite over sea foam and otter home. His time is nearing. Too soon, and yet not nearly soon enough. I went inside him. The pain he is in would break me. "Thats all I have to say about that".
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