The "Bold" Gift of Love

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

“Though I may speak with bravest fire,

 And have the gift to all inspire,
 And have not love, my words are vain,
 As sounding brass, and hopeless gain.

 Though I may give all I possess,

 And striving so my love profess,
 But not be given by love within,
 The profit soon turns strangely thin.

 Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control,

 Our spirits long to be made whole.
 Let inward love guide every deed;
 By this we worship, and are freed.”
          [–Hal Hopson, from The United Methodist Hymnal, #408]

If there’s ever been a time when we needed to practice bold love, it’s today!  We can have all the “correct” theology, do all the “right” religious rituals, worship God the “correct” way, hold all the “right” political views, etc.  But in the end, we believe as Christians that if we don’t put love into practice boldly, then we’ve missed the point!

Bold love means we love people more than “correctness,” that we practice loving those who we don’t necessarily agree with -- that we love those who are unlovely, unlovable, unlikeable, and just plain “wrong”!  For one example of how Christians are called to “love boldly” even those with whom we disagree, READ HERE my article about the Muslim response to the recent violence in Boston, MA.

In the meantime, remember that we are called to “be BOLD” in love -- in our demonstration and practice of love, both for God and for others.  May our bold practice of love begin to make a positive difference in our families, community, and world!

How will you “be BOLD” in loving God and loving others?  (Read more about our “be BOLD” capital campaign HERE) Remember, God loves you and I do, too!