Category: Devotion for Men

‘If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13(NLT)

Read: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Any gift we give to another means nothing unless it is a symbol of the gift of ourselves. Any gift without love—whether it be an obligatory gift, a guilt gift, or an impressing gift—is just an illusion. Yet when a gift is a real expression of our love for another, it makes the gift more valuable than any amount of money could buy.

Paul speaks about some of the gifts that God’s Spirit gives to individuals in the church: the gifts of eloquent speech, skilled preaching, intellectual knowledge, heroic faith, generous almsgiving, and even martyrdom (vv. 1-3). Although all of these are capable of making important contributions to the community, they are useless if they are used to glorify oneself, impress others, or any other reason than giving oneself to the community in love. Even the most wonderful gifts, if given selfishly, are not really gifts at all. 

Paul lists fifteen characteristics of real love that we could use to test the genuineness of our love for others (vv. 4-7). This love is never focused on our own wants but is always longing for what is best for others. If we are possessive and clinging, our relationships become jealous and conceited. True love doesn’t brood over the past but forgives mistakes. Always seeking the truth, love tells others what they need to hear and is able to receive helpful criticism. 

Whatever we give or receive as a gift is always temporary and incomplete. Even the gifts of the Spirit are fleeting. The only thing that lasts is the love within the gift. Love alone is eternal. When all the gifts of this world corrode, only the love within the gift remains. 

REFLECT: How can I make my gifts more valuable for others? 

PRAY: O God, who has given us only one life that soon will pass, help me to realize that only what’s done for Christ, only what’s done with love will last. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord . Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.’ Romans 12:9-21(NLT)

Read: Romans 12:9-21

This series of exhortations offers a no-nonsense vision of Christian living that is practical and challenging. Love heads the list and penetrates the entire sequence. This sacrificial, other-centered love (agape in Greek) forms the lifeblood of the Christian way of life. This love is shaped neither by the natural inclinations of our fallen nature nor by the standards of the world but by the power of God’s Spirit transforming the minds and wills of believers according to the way of Jesus Christ. 

Paul first describes love within the Christian community (vv. 9-13), exhorting Christians to imitate within the church the affectionate love of the family, the generous love of spouses and the patient care of siblings for one another. He promotes a practical charity between fellow disciples, encouraging them toward mutual affection and even a healthy competition at showing honor to others. He warns believers to remain fervent as they serve the Lord in season and out. They must find joy in the hope of their salvation, remain steadfast in their times of suffering, and remain constant in a life of prayer.

Paul then describes love within the wider society (vv. 14-21), offering more practical applications of Jesus’s command to love one’s enemies and his call for nonretaliation in the face of opposition and persecution. Christians living in the world should be good neighbors, prepared to rejoice when someone has good news and to be there to support and weep alongside those who face tragedy. Living in accord with others, making company with the lowly, residing peaceably with all—this is the kind of simple witness that disciples of Jesus can offer daily to the world. The converted believer is able to discern God’s will in all sorts of practical situations, learning how to “conquer evil with good” (v. 21) through union with the resurrected Lord and the power of his Spirit within.

REFLECT: Which three of these exhortations should I seek to practice during the coming week? 

PRAY: O God, who calls your people to live radically different from the ways of the world, guide me to discern in every instant how you desire me to live in imitation of Jesus my Lord. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
Teaching about Love for Enemies
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ Matthew 5:38-48(NLT)

Read: Matthew 5:38-48

Another illustration of the way Jesus clarifies the divine intention and deepest meaning of the law concerns Christian treatment of enemies. The examples do not advocate a passive submission to injustice, but a creative, nonviolent response. When insulted with a backhanded clap on the cheek, the disciple should turn and offer the other cheek, thereby shaming the antagonist and robbing him of the power to humiliate (v. 39). When a debtor is forced to give his inner garment as collateral for a debt, he should give his outer garment as well (v. 40). The naked debtor thus shames the creditor and exposes the injustices of the financial system. 

These are simply two practical examples that Jesus offers in order to encourage his disciples to consider other imaginative ways to respond to violence. To follow the way of Jesus, we too must seek ways to break our tendency to respond to violence with more violence. Responding to insult with kindness and abuse with compassion breaks the cycle of violent revenge in a creative way, nudging the aggressor toward repentance and a cycle of generosity. 

“Love your enemies” is perhaps the most difficult teaching of Jesus (v. 44 NABRE). Praying for persecutors and welcoming outsiders are striking demonstrations of love for them. The teachings of Jesus always transcend the typical human practice and call disciples to love without boundaries. The motivation for these loving actions is not just to receive reciprocal treatment; anyone can love those who love them in return. Rather, these actions imitate the way God loves, modeling the inclusive benevolence of the Father (v. 45). By trying to love as God loves, disciples model God’s very character and become increasingly perfect and complete (v. 48). 

REFLECT: How might I respond in a creative, nonviolent way to someone who seeks to insult or do me harm? 

PRAY: Heavenly Father, who has compassion on the just and the unjust, you call me to transcend the common and accepted responses of our society. Help me to set myself apart from the world by the completeness of my love. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.’ Ephesians 5:21-33(NLT)

Read: Ephesians 5:21-33

Paul shows Christian couples how their marriage is to be lived in the Lord and transformed by his grace, a living sign reflecting the love of Christ for his church. Christian marriage, then, must be faithful, permanent, self-giving, monogamous, indissoluble, generative, and fruitful. A married couple is a living sign for the whole community that God is loving and merciful, generous and self-giving, trustworthy and steadfast, creative and abundant. 

In the Greco-Roman culture, the patriarch was the head of his wife and household, who were required to obey him. While not overturning the norms of the culture, Paul shows how marriage is transformed when understood as a sacramental image of Christ and his church. Instead of male dominance, Paul tells husbands and wives to “be subordinate to one another” (v. 21 NABRE). The responsibilities within marriage are mutual, each responding to the needs of the other. If a husband is to be head of the wife, it must be in the way that Christ is head of the church, responsible for her and giving himself totally for her. Husbands must love their wives in the way that Christ loves the church, completely subordinating his own life for hers, always seeking the good of his spouse with self-sacrificial love (v. 25). 

In Christian marriage there is no place for authoritarianism, self-assertion, and self-centeredness. Spouses are responsible for the holiness and salvation of each other. As Christ bathes his church in baptism and nourishes it with Eucharist, the husband must cherish his wife’s body and soul. 

REFLECT: What can I incorporate into my own life from Paul’s description of the husband-wife relationship in marriage? 

PRAY: Faithful God, who calls husbands and wives to reflect the love of Christ and his church, give me the grace I need to be a visible sign of your love in the world. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.
Teaching about Adultery
#5:26 Greek the last kodrantes [i.e., quadrans]. “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.’ Matthew 5:21-30(NLT)

Read: Matthew 5:21-30

Anger and lust are primitive impulses that, if not deflected, can lead to destructive and abusive behavior, like murder and adultery. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus probes into the deepest meaning of the commandments and reveals their original intentions. In this way, he challenges his listeners to channel the energies of their instinctive responses into more noble activities for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

In the first illustration, Jesus teaches that the prohibition of murder implicitly prohibits the anger and abusive speech that can lead to violence (vv. 21-22). In contrast to such heated rage, the disciple should always seek to initiate a settlement. Offering concrete examples, Jesus says that fellow disciples should seek reconciliation over any offense before bringing an offering to God (vv. 23-24). Likewise, adversaries should settle out of court rather than suffer the direct consequences of judicial punishment (v. 25). In this way, Jesus shows how the heart of the law is aimed at broken relationships that need to be healed.

The second illustration demonstrates that the law against adultery implicitly prohibits lust (vv. 27-28). Jesus again shows the close relationship of external actions and internal dispositions. Lustful desires and coveting the spouse of another are ways of committing adultery in the heart. Jesus’s hyperboles do not advocate bodily dismemberment but stress the importance of doing whatever is necessary to control the primitive impulses of anger and lust that can flare out of control and lead to serious sin. 

REFLECT: In what way might God desire to change my heart so that my obedience to God’s commandments goes beyond the literal requirements of the law? 

PRAY: Lord God, who gave us the law through Moses, help me to understand the deeper implications of your commandments so as to live in a way that marks me as a disciple of Jesus your Son. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.’ John 15:9-17(NLT)

Read: John 15:9-17

Love is the divine energy that binds the Father with Jesus and Jesus with his followers. For this reason, Jesus commands his disciples, “Remain in my love” (v. 9 NABRE). This love that binds God with humanity is not just a sentimental emotion; divine love is active, self-giving, and sacrificial, the love Jesus demonstrated throughout his life. So, the obedience demanded in the Christian life is not a grudging compliance. Keeping the commandments of Jesus is not motivated simply by a sense of obligation or fear; rather this obedience is motivated by love and its purpose is joy (vv. 10-11). This complete joy is an experience of God’s life, the kind of lasting joy that no sadness or hardship in life can take away.

Jesus describes his relationship with his disciples—rooted in divine love and destined for complete joy—as friendship (vv. 14-15). Unlike the relationship between a master and his slave, the bond between friends is honest and reciprocal. The relationship between slave and master is based on obligation and earned privileges, while friendship is rooted in freedom and generosity. A master generally tells his slaves only what they need to know to do their job, but friendship means familiarity and sharing insights. As friends of Jesus, we only have to ask for what we need from the riches of the Father’s house (v. 16 NABRE). Jesus says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” This unearned, undeserved gift of friendship gives disciples the energy and motivation to “go and bear fruit,” to make a difference in the lives of others. 

REFLECT: In what ways does friendship with Jesus help me to be a friend to others? 

PRAY: O God, who has given us your Son to lay down his life and offer us the riches of your house, help me to accept the gift of friendship with Jesus with generous and sacrificial love. 

from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves

‘After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. ‘ John 13:12-15(NLT)

‘Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”’ John 13:33-35(NLT)

Read: John 13:12-15, 33-35

The beautifully humble act of foot washing summarizes the meaning of Jesus’s whole life. On the night before his crucifixion, when he is betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter, Jesus shows his disciples the way of self-giving, sacrificial love. With the washbowl and towel, Jesus takes the role of the servant and demonstrates what his life has been about and what his death will mean. Jesus calls his symbolic action “a model to follow,” urging his disciples to “wash one another’s feet” (vv. 14-15 NABRE). Serving others in this generous and humble way is the standard for the Christian life. 

 Although Jesus was departing from this life to a place where the disciples could not follow him, Jesus said he would remain with them and the world would still encounter him as they follow his new commandment and love as he loved (vv. 33-34). Although the command is based on a very ancient charge, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18 NABRE), it is new because it is the commandment of the new covenant, the new relationship between God and his people founded on the self-giving life and sacrificial death of Jesus. It is new because the love itself is new; it is the love of Jesus being shared in a communion of love by his disciples. 

This love of Jesus within his followers is the clearest sign of Christian discipleship (v. 35). Christians recognize one another by a single sign—loving with the love of Christ. When we fail to love in this way, we hide Christ’s presence from the eyes of others, and we conceal his risen life in the church. Through humble acts of service and self-giving generosity done in imitation of Jesus, we become effective signs of his love and help to overcome the disbelief of the world. 

REFLECT: If the standard of love is now the love with which Jesus has loved us, what are some of the characteristics of this love? 

PRAY: God of infinite love, whose love overflows from your Son into our world, teach me to rid my life of selfishness and to love sacrificially with the love of your Son, Jesus our Lord. 

By Stephen J. Binz, Catholic biblical scholar, speaker, and author of over 50 books, including Threshold Bible Study. His graduate work in Scripture is from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and Jerusalem. The website for his work is www.Bridge-B.com.

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from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves