Si je n'ai pas l'amour, je ne suis rien (2)

(Jésus dit:) À ceci tous connaîtront que vous êtes mes disciples, si vous avez de l'amour entre vous. Jean 13. 35

L'amour ne fait pas de mal au prochain. Romains 13. 9

“Si je parle dans les langues des hommes et des anges,
mais que je n'aie pas l'amour,
je suis comme un cuivre qui résonne ou comme une cymbale retentissante.

Et si j'ai le don de prophétie, si je connais tous les mystères et possède toute la connaissance, si j'ai toute la foi de manière à transporter des montagnes,
mais que je n'aie pas l'amour,
je ne suis rien.

Et même si je distribuais en aliments tous mes biens,
et si je livrais mon corps pour être brûlé,
mais que je n'aie pas l'amour,
cela ne m'est d'aucun profit.

L'amour se montre patient;
il est plein de bonté;
l'amour n'est pas envieux;
l'amour ne se vante pas;

il ne s'enfle pas d'orgueil;
il n'agit pas avec inconvenance;
il ne cherche pas son propre intérêt;
il ne s'irrite pas;
il n'impute pas le mal;
il ne se réjouit pas de l'injustice, mais se réjouit avec la vérité;
il supporte tout, croit tout, espère tout, endure tout.

L'amour ne périt jamais…

Or maintenant ces trois choses demeurent: la foi, l'espérance, l'amour; mais la plus grande, c'est l'amour.” (1 Corinthiens 13. 1-8, 13)


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Forever Flowers

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8
 
God affirms His love through His dependable and unchanging Word, which endures now and forevermore.

As a toddler, my son Xavier enjoyed giving me flowers. I appreciated every freshly picked weed or store-bought blossom he purchased with his dad. I treasured each gift until it wilted and had to be thrown away.

One day, Xavier gave me a beautiful bouquet of artificial flowers. He grinned as he arranged the silk white calla lily, yellow sunflower, and purple hydrangea in a glass vase. “Look, Mommy,” he said. “They’ll last forever. That’s how much I love you.”

We can trust God’s unchanging love.

 
Since then, my boy has grown into a young man. Those silk petals have frayed. The colors have faded. Still, the Forever Flowers remind me of his adoration. And there is something else it brings to mind—one thing that truly stands forever—the limitless and lasting love of God, as revealed in His infallible and enduring Word (Isa. 40:8).

As the Israelites faced continual trials, Isaiah comforted them with confidence in God’s enduring words (40:1). He proclaimed that God paid the debt caused by the Israelites’ sin (v. 2), securing their hope in the coming Messiah (vv. 3–5). They trusted the prophet because his focus remained on God rather than their circumstances.

In a world filled with uncertainties and affliction, the opinions of man and even our own feelings are ever-shifting and as limited as our mortality (vv. 6–7). Still, we can trust God’s unchanging love and character as revealed through His constant and eternally true Word.