“The stress and adversity of the pandemic and isolation is an emotional magnifier—it reveals and intensifies the reality of every relationship … fragile relationships will break, while deep ones will grow” (WSJ today).
OK, it’s a good time to read 1 Corinthians 13. So you sit down with your Bible and your brain wants to do what it always does when you’re online: scroll read. So 1 Corinthians 13 looks like this: “Love is patient and kind … not arrogant or (blurrrrrrrrrrrrrr) … faith, hope and love. Love is the greatest.” Whoa. What just happened?
Cognitive neuroscientists call it the “digital brain.” You read the first few words, then quickly jump to certain words or phrases you find valuable, while leaving the rest in Blurryland. It’s frustrating. Is there a way to clear your digital brain from blurry Bible reading?
Write down summary chunks. Let’s do 1 Corinthians 13 together.
Chunk #1 (13:1-3): I can do good things without being a very loving person. Without love, good deeds are about me—which means the people I’ve “blessed” are left feeling empty and annoyed.
Chunk #2 (13:4-7): God wants to teach me how to love like he loves. “God is patient and kind; God does not envy or boast; He is not arrogant or rude. God does not insist on his own way; He is not irritable or resentful; the Lord does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Chunk #3 (13:8-12): Experiencing love, as great as it is, is just a drop in the bucket when compared to the fullness of what is yet to be. When the new creation kingdom is fully realized, my love for God and people will flourish and be complete.
Conclusion (13:13): I am destined to love people the way God loves me.
PRAY: “Lord, the stress of being confined has awakened me to unresolved challenges in my relationships. Thank you for revealing things to me. Teach me how to love selflessly and sacrificially—the way you love me—in anticipation of living forever in the Age to Come. More grace, Jesus, Amen.
