Recently, God has been showing me the meaning of true love. Love has so many attributes. Most of us are aware of the 1 Corinthians 13 version– (patience, kindness, selflessness, hope for life and for relationships...) See, I wish I could go on, but I'm stuck there for a bit. I never thought having hope for relationships and being longsuffering could be so difficult. Specifically, in Romans 12, Paul elaborates on how love in relationships is supposed to play out.
Romans 12: 9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Do you see that last part? You know the part of being joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer? THAT PART! It hit me like a ton of bricks because I realized that in order to preserve any kind of relationship in a Godly way; I had to be willing to hope that there could be a positive future for the relationship. This hope, dreams of happiness and loyalty and memories to be made and shared, would propel me to be able to endure hard times.
But hope isn't the end of the story. There's also that NOT SO MINOR part about being FAITHFUL IN PRAYER. When I read that, I wondered about it for a long time. "What does praying have to do with that?" I asked. I then realized (through the Holy Spirit) that prayer is what changes things. It is only so long that any one of us as humans can endure unpleasant situations and press forward. As believers in Christ, however, we can be sure that God sees and that He has the ability to change the hearts of people. When the reality of that sinks in, we then realize that God can completely change the nature of any relationship, and align it to His will, all through the power of your diligent, private prayers.
So now we see the complete picture. We don't need to stress out and secretly resent each other. Being patient with each other while praying allows God to work on all of us, while keeping the love alive! :)
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Liselle Coker
DKA Clayborn,Lovely Lambda#08FA08, Reverse Osmosis
Howard University School of Architecture, May'09
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