daily devotional

Daily Devotional: Love For Profit - February 6

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:3

In Paul’s treatise on love, he says that love and profit are related. Love is not disinterested piety, and disinterested piety is not love. Love and profit cannot be separated. Profit motivates you to love biblically.

Although there are many facets to marriage, let’s focus on how love and profit relate. Charles, a follower of Christ, falls in love with Jane and pursues her in hopes of marriage. He confesses, “My life will be miserable without you. Marry me, for you are the fulfillment of all my dreams.” Jane agrees and they set a date. Charles spends money on her that he does not have and buys her a ring that he cannot afford. In a limited sense, he meets the first of Paul’s two examples of sacrifice in verse 3. If Jane stands in harm’s way, he quickly and freely stands between her and harm, willing to lay down his life for her. In this limited way he meets the second example as well.

Ten years into their marriage Charles divorces Jane. He no longer loves her. His was not a biblical love; he had the wrong profit in mind at the start of his marriage and he saw no profit in staying married to Jane. Divorcing biblical profit from love destroys biblical love.

You go to him in an endeavor to save the marriage and keep him from sinning. You point out that it is unprofitable to divorce: Supporting two families costs more than one, his children will never forgive him for leaving their mother, and his bothers and sisters in Christ will have to exercise Christian discipline. Charles acknowledges that the price is indeed heavy, but not as heavy as staying married to a woman he no longer loves. So you bring Charles to I Corinthians 5-6 and call to his attention that he persists in the divorce to the peril of his soul; he forfeits his right to call himself a Christian. If the marriage is saved, it will be because Charles perceives that the cost of divorce is higher than the cost of staying in an unhappy marriage.

This daily devotional is provided by the Leadership Foundation (www.leadershipfoundation.org) & Walter Hendrichsen.

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