Reality Check:
Day 9
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13: 3
The
title today is actually a little misleading. We do want to do good, we
want to be kind and considerate and look out for others. After all, all
of those things are part of true love.
In
and of themselves, those things are worthless. Being good is just, well
just being good. It doesn’t get you to Heaven and it doesn’t
necessarily show love. If you truly love someone then it matters to you
if they go to hell, it should bother and grieve you greatly! It should
also motivate you to do good out of love, not out of obligation.
Let
me give you an example, one variation of doing good but not having
love. Say someone is trying to get over into my car lane. I wave them
over, annoyed, and mumble, “Come on idiot, hurry up!”
Later that day my eldest says to his little brother, “Come on let me get your drink for you, hurry up idiot.”
Do I need to explain?
Good
without love profits nothing. It may seem like it helps in a moment and
certainly God could use it. But it definitely won’t profit you and
probably not your family either.
Practice:
It’s hard sometimes having the right attitude. Think about how often we
remind our children to have a better attitude. Is it possible that we
are rubbing off? Think about your motives when you are about to do
something, and say an SOS prayer if your motives are not coming from a
place of love.
Family Activity:
Talk about some situations that needed a dose of love. Discuss how it
affects people when you don’t have love…like a medicine for the wrong
symptoms. Find an old spoon, cut out the words love and paste them onto
the spoon. Tie a ribbon around the spoon and hang it somewhere as a
reminder. Challenge each other to gently and respectfully remind one
another when they need a dose of love.
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