Stephen M. Miller – “A bachelor’s love
song, in the Bible” on Tuesday, 26 November 2013
PAUL, A SINGLE SAINT. Does anyone else
think it’s odd that the most famous love song in the Bible was written by a
bachelor?
FRIENDS MAKE US WORK. Usually a good
thing.
I got an email yesterday from a longtime
friend of mine who knows that I sometimes paraphrase the Bible as a technique
I’m trying out to study the Bible. She asked if I had paraphrased the famous
Love Chapter: 1 Corinthians 13. She was working on an Advent devotional about
love, and she was curious to see how I had paraphrased the love song written by
Paul.
I had not yet gotten around to
paraphrasing that chapter.
Nor had I gotten around to writing the
blog post for today. So I decided to kill two birds with one blog.
I’m not sure my friend will be able to
use any of my paraphrase in her Advent devotional. But the paraphrasing is
always a fun challenge for me.
Here’s my first draft. See what you
think.
The bachelor’s love song
1. So what if I speak with the eloquence
of a master orator, the swaggering charisma of a rock star, and the authority
of an archangel sent from God. If I don’t love others, I’m just an irritating
squeak in the dashboard of an old Buick.
2. So what if I can tell the future, and
I know everything about anything, and I can tell a mountain how high to jump.
If I don’t love people, what good am I?
3. Big deal if I give away all my money
or shed some blood for Jesus’ sake. If I don’t love others, for heaven’s sake,
I’m just iron deficient and cash poor.
4. In case you don’t know what love looks
like, it looks like patience and kindness. It doesn’t look a thing like
jealousy. Or bragging. And it’s not snooty with pride.
5. It’s not rude, either. It’s certainly
not a control freak. It doesn’t rub you raw with constant irritation. And it
doesn’t keep a write-protected file on everything you’ve ever done wrong.
6. Love doesn’t yell Hallelujah when the
bad guys win; love hates lies. Love gets excited at a happy ending; love needs
the truth.
7. Love has a strong back and a big
heart. It’ll carry you. It’ll believe in you. It’ll put all its trust in you.
It’ll take on the world for you.
8. Love will never quit on you. Prophets
will; they’ll run out of prophecies. Speakers will; they’ll run out of words.
Knowledge will; it’ll run out of people.
9. We don’t see the big picture yet.
10. Someday we will.
11. Until then, remember this. When we
were kids, we sounded like kids. That’s because we had the brains of a kid.
We’re grown up now. And we sound like it.
12. But don’t get a swelled head. We
still don’t see the big picture. It’s not in focus yet. It’ll get there.
13. For right now, hang on tight to the
best things in your life. Your faith. Your hopes. Your love. These are the
best. And the best of the best is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Steve’s Bible
Translation
The post A bachelor’s love song, in the
Bible appeared first on Stephen M. Miller.
More to read:
What’s hell like?
Immanuel of Isaiah
Mary’s Song: I took it personal
Prayer: Is it begging like a dog?
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