Who Do You Love?

Rest in Peace to Craig Morton who died yesterday at 83 years of age. A terrific passer, but one of the slowest human beings to ever play quarterback in the NFL. Morton lost a Super Bowl while starting for the Cowboys and won the Cowboys a Super Bowl by starting for the other team. He was pulled in SB XII for Norris Weese. If you remember that, you’ve been around for a while. Man, I love those old gray pants. Remember when the Cowboys pants matched their helmets? That’s a long time ago, dude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m still processing so much of what I heard and soaked up while at the Pepperdine Lectures last week in California. Just reflecting on a sentence here and a phrase there about the primary position of love in our churches has me strangely encouraged and deeply convicted. You know, this stuff will preach.

Fate Hagood asked a really simple question in one of his sessions on Wednesday: “Who do you love?”

The question was not, “Who do you say you love?” or “Who are you supposed to love?” or “Who do you think you love?” The question is simply “Who do you love?” And Fate said you know exactly who you love and who you don’t love by the metrics of 1 Corinthians 13.

Who are you patient with? That’s who you love.
Who are you not patient with?

Who are you kind to? That’s who you love.
Who are you not kind to?

Who do you protect? Who do you defend? That’s who you love.
Who do you accuse? Who do you insult?

If you are rude to someone, you do not love him or her. If someone angers you easily, you do not love that person. If you’re keeping a mental list of the wrongs of a particular person, you do not love him or her.

I’m wondering what these people I’m thinking about have in common. The people I’m nice to, the people I defend, the people I’m patient with–is there anything they have in common I need to pay attention to? What about the people 1 Corinthians 13 suggests I don’t love? What do they have in common? Is that something I need to reflect on and pray about?