“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
I Corinthians 13:4-8a
God’s encouragement…
The description of love in these verses is the love we all long for. We long to be treated with patience and kindness, without a hint of jealousy or arrogance. We welcome being loved by someone who is never irritable or resentful. It can be tempting to skip past wrongdoing and truth. Experience tells us that the truth hurts sometimes. But we embrace love bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. These are love’s precious treasures. We want to possess them to ensure the love given to us will never end.
Yet, when I turn these statements around to love I give, I see a problem. How do the things I want and need mesh with such perfection? Wants and needs are part of all my loving relationships, sometimes just below the surface and other times front and center. Can I give love so freely and purely? Can I love with no conditions? And, if I cannot, is it fair for me to want for myself love that I cannot give to others? The voice in my head tells me no. God, however, doesn’t answer fairly. He answers by giving us His divine love through Jesus.
God’s divine love seeks our welfare rather than fairness. It reaches higher, deeper and farther than romantic love, family love or love between friends. His perfect divine love, given to us through His Son, models divine love for us. With the scriptures as our textbook, we can grow in our ability to choose patience and kindness, and quiet jealousy or arrogance. We can become less irritable and resentful as we seek truth that brings rejoicing. God’s divine love stretches us, enabling us to bear more, believe more, hope more and endure more. In Jesus we receive the divine love we long for, so we increase our capacity to give it away to others.
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Click the arrow → to access an online English Standard Version Bible. The People’s Bible Commentary – 1 Corinthians is also drawn upon.
Image: original pastel and color pencil drawing “Love that Never Ends” by Robin Lybeck
