1 Corinthians 13:4-7 New English Translation

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag and is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

 Can joy be given by God but not be all of Him?

If we enjoy the warm feeling of just loving God

Will we love Him then in every circumstance?

Is love for Him conditional when we feel it or not?

 

Perhaps that love is not of God, but just of our feelings

Or maybe by such feeling, we think it is God Himself

There is an excellent distinction between God and the joy of God

And because of miss-interpretation at times, it’s hard to tell

 

Not until the time of barren feelings shall the Holy Spirit show it

Can we forsake our God in favor of the joy He dispenses?

Should one delight in what He gives and separate God from the Giver?

It appears that we can do this, but only through self-intent

 

We need to love God because of God Himself.

And not for any other reasons that point to our self

Our joy should be in God Himself and that in every season

And not for the enjoyment, He gives for that will end in peril

 

Love is not always a joy, maybe mostly the opposite

We should never esteem God’s gift higher than God

Pleasure is in God Himself and not in joyful feelings

To live in Christ is everything and how we feel is not

 

Joy can become an idol, a so-called half-god in our life

Can a spirit of pleasure be joined with the spirit of contentment

Deep within the inner-man without godliness lined inside

Which make both deceivers as they are just self-enhancing 

 

Jan Wienen