Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Most of us are familiar with this verse from weddings. It’s biblical instruction on how we are to approach our marriage – all our relationships, really. It’s the goal anyway. I have heard it said we are to try putting our own name in there…Sherry is patient, Sherry is kind, etc., and see if any of it rings even close to the truth. That would be to see if, to others, we are viewed as patient, kind and all the rest. Another way, even a little more close to home and frightening to think about, is to just replace “Love” with the pronoun ‘I’.
I am patient, I am kind….I am not easily angered, I keep no records of wrongs….
Go ahead, try it. Try saying it out loud. It brings this damningly close to home. I’d like to think that other people think I am some of these things; kind, trusting, hopeful… but it’s another thing entirely to think, deep down, it is actually true; and to pronounce it out loud about myself.
I am patient, I am kind…hmmm, am I? I do not envy, I do not boast…really, do I not? It is a self examination that makes you take a hard look at whether you are anywhere near the goals that are set for us in our relationships.
The Source of All Love
But on further consideration, I was prompted to replace “love” with, not myself, but with God. Because this is the truth of things.
We think of love as this almost magical, ethereal, esoteric feeling that comes over us. And sometimes it comes and goes, we ‘fall’ in and out of love, or sometimes we just stop loving someone. But in reality God. Is love. And all love IS God. God equals love.
In other words, all love comes from God. He invented it, He is it, He owns it. There is no separating the two.
I heard it put this way… all the love you have ever experienced – given, received, felt, or observed – is all simply God himself. God expressing and showing himself. It is a hauntingly beautiful thought. When you feel love, that is God. When you see a new mother with her baby, that is God. When you sacrifice and give of yourself to someone you care about, that is God. When you forgive, that is God.
So we can say:
God is patient, God is kind…..God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.
God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God(’s love) never fails.
Following His Example
And we can still strive to mimic God in these ways, strive to achieve the level of love that God has exemplified. A daunting task, for sure. But what better goal for a life?
A life here on earth, a mere 80-100 years… in the big scheme of things, a drop in the bucket of infinite time.
There Is something else after this life.
If you think that’s even possible, and if anything Jesus said ever made any sense to you at all, it’s worth considering attempting to spend some time these mere years on earth preparing for whatever is next. I can’t think of a better or more fulfilling way to do that, than to live in the love that God gave and God is. And the love that Jesus modeled while he was here on earth.
An afterthought: I was thinking of God AS love, and picturing a huge reservoir or ocean of love, and God as the total and only source and supply of all that love. And, that all love in the world is actually God; His Presence and His very Being. Expressed in So many ways. And that is why we can say “God is with us” or “God is everywhere”. Because everywhere there is an opportunity to feel or show or give or experience or observe love, there God is. Because He is the sole provider, He invented it. God IS Love. And He never leaves us, but he leaves us with a choice, and the ability, in every circumstance to respond in love.
When you have a minute, take a listen to this beautiful reflection on Christian love.
