1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all that you do be done in love.
It is often the shortest verses in Scripture that are the most densely packed and profound. “Jesus wept” (which is the shortest verse of all) opens up abysses of mystery in its presentation of God Incarnate crying over the spectacle of a death he could have prevented but chose not to. It confronts us with the mystery of mortality and the even greater mystery God’s death and resurrection. In the same way, today’s “simple” verse confronts us with a challenge sufficient to propel us through a thousand Lenten seasons. Let all—all?!—that we do be done in love? Who is sufficient for such a demand. Who have ever let all that he or she did be done in love? How much of what we do is done in vanity, or pride, or out of a desire to make somebody feel grateful, or stupid, or envious. Held up to the intense x-radiation of this verse, most of us would have to confess that we seldom obey it. But such is the mercy of God (who does all things in love for us) that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus who dare to examine their faults and ask for his help. He will abundantly pardon and will give us the grace to act more in love today than we did yesterday and to act more in love tomorrow than we did today. This day, ask God to help you act more completely out of love through the grace of Christ. He will do it.
