Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Monday, November 5, 2018

QT 5 Nov 18, 1 Cor 13:3, Actions without love don't really add value


1 Corinthians 13:3 (ESV) — If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

NOTE: It is not about what you do, but what is the reason for what you do. Love is certainly shown in action. But action can be motivated by reasons other than love. A person can serve to be seen. A person can give away great sums of money out of pride, not because they actually care. We need to love first. We need to be the person who is stricken in our soul out of compassion, empathy, and love for the other person. Actions are nice, but a person without love is like an unpainted wall -- no one is moved by it. Unloving people are not enjoyable. You do not like being with them. They are critical of everything. No one does anything right and they really don't care what you think of their expressing an opinion. They don't care who they hurt. The camouflage their criticism in appeals for excellence or other spiritual terms, but really they are critics who don't care about the people who are really the targets of the criticism.

PRAYER: Father, we all are guilty at one time or another of unloving criticism, and unloving actions. Forgive us. Open my own eyes to when I speak without thinking and caring for the person I am speaking to. I don't want to be seen that way. I want to be known as a person who cares, and who loves others.

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