Unity, Flesh and Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. Love never fails.

These verses are almost poetic.

I've heard these verses out of the bible quoted over and over again.

But let's take out the word love and add the word flesh.

The flesh is not patient, the flesh is not kind. It does envy, it does boast, it is proud. It is rude, it is self-seeking, it is easily angered, it keeps record of wrongs. The flesh does delight in evil and lies. It does not always protect, does not always trust, does not always hope, does not always persevere. The flesh always fails.

Kind of puts a new twist on it, huh? It did for me when my husband shed this new light on it for me tonight.

Paul so eloquently stated it when he said he had to die to the flesh every single day of his existence in this life. When you react in the flesh or deal with your life in the flesh, then you are not acting in love. And God is love!

And to be unified you have to act in love towards each other. There is no way that our church will be unified until it stops reacting in the flesh! I saw it in the kitchen while working with other members of the church...the gossiping, the rumors, the back stabbing...it's all evident in our church. My husband has seen it when speaking with other members.

But, let me emphasize also, that my husband and I are as guilty of it as others are. But it's very interesting to take an afternoon with fellow women of the church, not say a word, but just listen to everything going on around you and be totally shell shocked by what you hear being said!

I'm going to reiterate my question once again and then go to bed...

How are you gonna handle it? How are you gonna react? Are you gonna react to your persecutions in the flesh or with love?