Keeping it real - part 1

Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent

Tags: Love

Date: 21 February 2013 05:19:55

Keeping it real

part 1

Forty blogs of Lent

Day 8

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
Back in the day, when I edited a church magazine we were warned about using headlines such as "Faith and Worship." There is a fundamental misunderstanding when people use abstract nouns. Concrete nouns are easy to understand, they are things we can experience with out senses. People, places and things. Abstract nouns, things that we cannot sense can have different meanings to different people do not necessarily men the same thing to everyone. Not everyone finds the same meaning when they hear a word like worship. Which is a problem with a concept such as faith, hope and love. Three abstract nouns in one short sentence. How can we make it more real, and keep it real? Take the word love. We can say, "Send her my love." Here the word noun is abstract. Or we can say, "I really love her." The word here is a verb, something we do. Look at this:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV
Love is something active, it does things, it trusts, hopes and perseveres. Love is dynamic, it does not deserve to be abstracted. Let's keep it real.