According to the text, behavior impacts both the physical and the social environment that
surrounds us [Mil16]. A perfect example of how God wants us to impact our environment is
found in 1 Corinthians 13. Of all the gifts that God gives us, love is the greatest. What Paul is
saying is that it does not matter how rich or poor we are, how smart we are, or even how much
faith we have, if we do not share God’s love with others then nothing else matters. Jesus himself
tells us to love one another as he has loved us. One of my favorite verses in the Bible that I feel
gives a more descriptive meaning of what real love is comes from John 15:13 where Jesus said,
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (New International
Version). A lot of people misinterpret this verse thinking that Jesus is telling us that we must die
for one another to show true love, but that is not entirely true. We just must be willing to
sacrifice part or all of what we must show the same love that Jesus shows us; and that is the same
message that Paul is telling us in 1 Corinthians 13.
There is an old saying that says you must fight fire with fire, but I disagree with that way
of thinking. “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away” 1 Corinthians 13:8
(NIV). Paul is telling us in this scripture what love is and what love is not. In other words, love
conquers all. I can recall several situations where our faith has impacted our behavior but the one
that immediately comes to mind is the horrific tragedy on 9/11 where people came together to
help one another even at the risk of losing their own lives. New York of all places, where
everyone is in a hurry and most won’t even take the time to say hello to a stranger let alone help
them. I do not mean to stereotype people from New York because not everyone is like that, but
the point that I am trying to make is that sometimes it takes a crisis for our faith to have an
impact on how we behave. (Word count- 406)
Reference
Miltenberger, R. G. (2016). Behavior Modification: Principles and procedures (6th. ed.).
Boston, MA.: Centgage Learning.
