You’d be hard-pressed to go to a Christian wedding and not hear some part of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 read, also known as The Love Chapter. But today, let’s look at how Paul defined biblical love in verses 4-7 as we think about being proactive in love to battle hate.

1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud, or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I tend to read or hear this passage and think about how I fall short in loving, based on the definition we are given here. Do you feel that way? Why might we hear these words through a negative filter? Because even with those closest to us, and when we work really hard to be good at love, we still have a selfish sin nature.

Can you think of a situation that you are aware of your conditional, maybe self-serving love towards another person?

So, how can we possibly love anyone like this passage talks about? Listen again to this same passage, but I’m going to change out one word throughout. That will give us the only possible way to love as we are taught here. Listen with your heart …

Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus does not demand his own way. He is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. Jesus does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Jesus never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Isn’t that incredible? Jesus can be interchanged with the word “love” because He is love and the embodiment of God’s love. So, the closer we get to Jesus, the closer we get to love. The more we follow Jesus, the more we walk in the ways of love.

March 11, 2024

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