This passage is probably one of the most well-known in the New Testament. I bet many of us who are married had this verse read at our weddings. It took me a while to realize that this isn’t necessarily about romantic love, but agape love. My understanding is that Paul wrote this to the church in Corinth during a tough time when there were lots of disagreements among the church members. They were doing important work, but had lost sight of their love for one another.

When we think about loving our neighbors, we often think about it in the abstract sense. It’s easy to talk about loving our neighbors, but this verse makes clear that the love that Paul is talking about is an action verb. In fact, he lists many actions, both positive and negative that are love-driven. I wonder why he listed patience first? That one really hits home for me as I am often most impatient with the ones I love the most. If you’re patient, you’re slow to anger, you endure personal wrongs without retaliating. You bear with others’ imperfections, faults, and differences. You give them time to change, room to make mistakes without coming down hard on them. All that takes work.

And then comes Kindness. Kindness is patience in action. It originates from a Greek word meaning “useful”. A kind person is usually helpful. He seeks out needs and looks for opportunities to meet those needs without repayment. He is tender and forgiving when wronged, and his kindness motivates others toward positive change.

Jealousy and envy are two important negative actions that exist when agape love is not there. They both stem from selfishness. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has. Bragging is trying to make others jealous of what we have. Jealousy puts others down; bragging builds us up in our own minds. Neither are healthy, helpful, or loving.

I am working on making my love more actionable and intentional. By doing so, I hope to create some positive change in my life.

Dear Lord, let us hear Your Word and let it guide us toward love in actionable ways. You are the perfect example for us. Amen.

This devotion was written by Virginia Hardwick Kerr.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

The longer I live the more beautiful and frightening I find John 3. In my opinion, it contains some of the most comforting and the most challenging statements in all of Christianity. When we listen to the teachings that Jesus shares with us, the bar is so high, and yet there is literally no bar. We must give up all, and yet no works are required.

We must abandon our worldly desires, our kinship and birthright, and yet we are saved by grace and born again in the Spirit with living waters. Nicodemus is rebuked for being a teacher of Israel but not understanding, and yet these verses clearly say it is beyond human capacity to understand the Spirit. We hear it, but we neither know its origin nor its destination.

Nicodemus came in the night to find understanding, walking out of the darkness and into the light. But at the very same time, he does not walk in knowing the Spirit. He asks how can that be? I think we all encounter Christ more clearly when we are in darkness. We see more clearly when we seek the light of Jesus not our own illumination. Our path is more clear when led by the light of the Spirit than when we turn on our own light and seek to understand each day.

To find the answer we must ask the question. To follow Jesus, we must assume we are lost. To be guided by the Spirit, we must listen quietly not speak. To live in grace, we must have faith not knowledge. To see the light, we must sit in darkness. To stand tall, we must kneel. To be rich, we must be a servant. To experience the love of God, we must give all to others.

But then, what do I know?

Heavenly Father, we pray that we may we be like Nicodemus and seek you. May our hearts be led by the Spirit. Allow us to be led by your light, not our own artificial light. Each day may we listen to the wind blow and answer Your call, Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Susan Daves.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

You’ve heard the phrase. Maybe you’ve used it yourself. “It was a real Damascus Road moment” — meaning something stopped you cold, turned you completely around, changed everything.

The expression has become so common that it’s easy to assume we already know the story. But the actual account in Acts is stranger and more unsettling than the phrase suggests.

Saul of Tarsus was not a confused man searching for meaning. He was not someone open to a new perspective. He was on his way to Damascus with legal authority to arrest followers of Jesus — to drag them back to Jerusalem in chains. He was certain he was doing God’s work. He was zealous, educated, and completely, catastrophically wrong.

Then the light. Then the ground. Then the voice.

And here’s where the familiar story gets unfamiliar: Jesus doesn’t ask Saul why he’s persecuting the church. He doesn’t ask why Saul is persecuting his followers, or his people, or his movement.

He says, “Why do you persecute me?”

Me.

Saul hadn’t laid a hand on Jesus. Jesus was risen, ascended, glorified. And yet — every believer dragged from their home, every family torn apart, every person imprisoned for following the Way — Jesus counted it as done to himself. He was so completely identified with his people that an attack on them was an attack on him.

That’s not just a comfort for people facing persecution. It’s a staggering claim about who Jesus is and how close he stays.

It means the lonely person sitting in the back of the church — Jesus is there. The believer nobody checks on — Jesus notices. The one who feels invisible, forgotten, like their suffering doesn’t register anywhere — Jesus says, that registers with me. That happened to me.

Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” — the right question, finally, after years of being certain he already knew.

Sometimes, the most important thing a Damascus Road moment does isn’t change our direction. It changes who we think we’re dealing with.

Father, open our eyes to how closely you identify with the people around us. Help us see that how we treat others — especially the forgotten and the struggling — is how we treat you. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.