Fervent

          For the last several weeks, I have been fighting a virus that had me completely fatigued, foggy-headed, and eventually decided to turn into bronchitis. During the thick of it, I was also trying to orchestrate a field trip for our home school tutorial--something I have never done on a large scale before. I made a couple of errors in sending emails, once sending out the wrong date and another time sending it to only half the group. I also had several instances of miscommunication with others despite my best attempts at clarity (which may not have been clear at all, considering the sluggish state of my thoughts), and I found that I was easily irritated at the whole business. My kids, too, seemed to team up to bombard my struggling brain with questions that I could not answer and chaos that I could not sort out. All in all, I was just tired, cranky, and out of sorts and found that I had very little grace for others and none at all for myself.

         Throughout those days, I had been reading and re-reading 1 Peter; either in whole or in parts each day. Although I had read it so many times, it wasn't until just a couple of days ago--the first day I began to have a little returned vigor--that some of the passages struck me. The first one to really slap me in the face was this:

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.      1Peter 1:22-25 (emphasis mine)

      The word translated "earnestly" in the above passage can also mean "intensely or fervently." It occurred to me that in allowing myself to be vexed by my own inability to communicate and by the misunderstandings of others, I was not showing earnest love. In fact, I was not showing any love at all. I was merely being irritable, which 1 Corinthians 13:5 clearly tells us has nothing to do with love.  I was humbled, reminded of my fickle nature and of the patience and long-suffering of the Lord I am supposed to be emulating. Reading on, the following passage also made me squirm a little:

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:7-11

     It was another reminder that I am called to something far greater than my transitory troubles and that nothing I am given is for my own use or benefit, but for the service of others and the glory of God. This should be heartfelt, intense love  and it cannot be dealt out just when I feel like it. It is not to be a feigned nor superficial love, either, nor is it optional. It is commanded. It is deep, intense, and intentional, and it is mine only through the strength God supplies, and only mine to give for His glory.

     James MacArthur says, in the notes on 1 Peter 1:22 from his study Bible, "Such love exhibits itself by meeting others at the point of their need." Those words, combined with the nudging from the Holy Spirit, reminded me that even when I am ill and out of sorts, I am not excused from actively and intentionally loving other people. It is at these times, perhaps, more than others when I need to be the most deliberately mindful of the needs of others and of stepping outside myself. It is at these times of flimsy affection on my part when I need to rely the most on the ever-powerful, unfailing love of my King. It is His love, after all, that I need to exhibit, for it is His love that is truly blazing, ardent, alive, and unflagging.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

         

      

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.