Focus: Holy Scripture (5/7)
Day: 05/95
Pathway summary: Study of the Word of God with expectation of Holy Spirit inspired revelation.
Justification: (Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Psalm 119; John 16:7-15; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
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Setup:
Continuing the Bible study on Love.
I am reminded that one of the most powerful aspects to Love is staying
power, perseverance, and the priceless gift known as restraint.
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Prep:
Today's love-theme is restraint.
Or re-strained, to be tested again and again and not falter.
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Execution:
I started off with prayer; I am
again mining 1
Corinthians 13:11 - it really is full of huge aspects of Love and
provides answers to most of the questions I have personally experienced or
seen/read about Love.
And, much like so many things, God
is teaching me about this aspect of Love through His touch and things I'm
already doing. This journal is an example, for me, of doing something in spite
of obligations, weariness, or anything else - to continue pushing to see it
through and existent.
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Day 5 Conclusions / Thoughts
Resilience, perseverance, patience - these
aspects of Love are so fundamentally true and associated with the recognition
of Love that we may sometimes identify how mature, or how much a Christian, a
person is by how much they show Love to others when nobody is looking.
The word "restrain" puts me in
the way of thinking of myself (and everyone else) as a cup of tea. The purpose
of straining, straining again, and continuing to strain each of us is, like so
many other things, intended to Give God the glory. To strain tea, then
again, and again, then again .... and suddenly you weren't paying attention to
the lesson but you wind up leaving behind something precious and starting up
again. But you are still encouraged by Christ to learn the lesson again.
Phonetically it reminds me of humility -
the word "re - str - aint" can be rearranged to "re - aint -
str" - which looks like "we ain't strong". Which is again, like
God, to take stuff we know for granted and either teach us a new lesson with
the existing materials or surprise us with opportunities to display how we've
grown. Life, then, is a complicated repeat of the same one, two, or dozen
lessons that we each need to master. And, in the same way we cannot beat the
odds by ourselves, we need another to even sit at the table.
Another interesting breakdown of the word
is to break it on syllabification - between rest and rain. It is a reminder
that "it can't rain all the time" and that being mindful of the need
to rest and handle suffering/difficulty is a reminder that even God needed a
chance to unwind / be away from the throngs that simply wanted to hear his
voice, to touch his cloak.
Ultimately, restraint's purpose is not
inconvenience - it's a reminder of our need for humility a huge hint as to how
we can draw the attention of Love and not lose it. Such an acting
evidence of Love will change those involved - and draw others to Christ.
