Without love, we are nothing
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
I find this bit of the book awkward because Elihu reminds me of (a slightly younger) me. He has clearly studied up on God, and he's clever and attentive enough to have worked out which of Job's words he can use to hammer Job down. Elihu is sure he is right and, watching in frustration at everyone else messing up, he is attempting to minister out of anger. There's a reason why Jesus told us not to be angry - we can't handle anger, even "righteous anger", the way he can. We're much more likely to be self-righteous like Elihu, and he's not helping.
Why not? Much of what he says about God seems right. God does speak to people; he guides those who listen and delivers people from destruction. God does no evil, he does not pervert justice, and he is aware of people's actions - there is nowhere we can hide from God. In these respects, I think Elihu is right, but as a good friend once told me, I can be absolutely right and absolutely wrong at the same time.
Elihu lets his book learning and ideas speak louder than experience. His confidence to share his understanding so forcefully is misplaced because he has more to learn than he realises.
Elihu fails to recognise or respect Job's grief and apply any sensitivity whatsoever. Even if he did have spiritual understanding, it’s being expressed without the love Paul wrote was so vital in 1 Corinthians 13 - he could fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but if he does not love, he is nothing.
But worst of all, Elihu does not recognise God's love or its expression in Jesus. When Elihu asks about God "If you sin, how does that affect him?" he is arguing that God is above our actions, supremely detached, yet we know that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus, and that he would feel the full effect of all of our sins. We can know God’s laws and crave his justice, but if we don’t know his love, grace and self-sacrifice, we don’t yet know God.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God knows the journey we have to go on to get to know him properly. It’s not just about learning stuff, it’s about loving him and our neighbours. He also knows that we can’t learn to do that just from being told to do it. He might let us practise through difficult relationships.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
This reminds me that when I ask God to help me love more, I don’t tend to feel a warm-feeling boost as much as I find there is someone challenging in my life to love. So I don’t ask to do this as often as I should. That should change.
Who am I going to share this with?
Looking to grow in God’s love and get better at sharing it needs to be a core topic in our open house discipleship group. We’ll look together at how God wants to use us right now.