This last week we rolled back to the top of our Core Values conversation at Taconic. Our number one core value is “Walk in Love.” By it’s very nature a core value is non-negotiable. Some things might be open for discussion but there should always be a few things for every organization or business that are not on the table for negotiation. They are rigid rules to live by. That’s certainly true of this core value.
I love to read through 1 Corinthians 13 and hear the incredibly high standard that the “rule of love” provides for us to live by. To be honest, as a man…a simple human, love has often been reduced to an emotion or a feeling. And, in fact, most definitions of love are exactly that.
The love we feel for our family or friends, or pets or the mountains, or the romantic love we feel for our spouse…these are feelings and emotions that come from our hearts. This kind of love flows from our hearts outward. We are compelled to love because it comes from within us.
But the love written about in 1 Corinthians 13 is much more than a feeling or simple emotion. And it comes from a completely different place. In the Greek it’s referred to as “agape,” or unconditional love. It’s love no matter what.
This kind of love is an actual decision we make. And I believe this is a decision that’s made way down in our gut. A deeply made decision. Non-negotiable. “I WILL LOVE.” When we choose to love with agape, we love whether we feel like it or not. The decision is simple but it’s not easy.
It’s like you’ve promised yourself that you are going to do 10 pull ups. You begin to do them and find that you get through six pretty well. Seven and eight are pretty tough and now you feel like quitting. But from somewhere down deep in your gut you find that desire…and say to yourself, “I will do 10! And you find the strength to finish strong. That’s what this decision to love is like.
God calls us all to walk in love (just in case you were wondering…it’s not just a Taconic thing!). 1 Corinthians 13 reads like a description of how we should lead our daily lives.
So what? What does this mean to us…today?
Stop waiting for the feeling of love. Stop saying to yourself that you’ll serve, or pray or give or forgive or humble yourself when you feel like it. Do those things because they are the right things to do. Do those things because you’ve made the deep down gut-level decision to love no matter what. “I WILL LOVE!”
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Make the decision to walk in love today.
(thanks to Hugh MacLeod for the great piece of art!)
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