My Bible reading this morning includes 1 Corinthians 13. This has to be one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. You’ve heard it many times. In it, Paul describes love in great detail and with great specificity. I’m not sure, but this passage was probably read when Cindy and I were being married.
Over the years, when I have read this passage, I have have always thought about Cindy and about our relationship. I have measured my performance as a husband and father against it. And I have often fallen short. No surprise there. But, this morning, I had an epiphany.
The overriding message of the Bible is that we are required to love. This passage tells us in detail how to go about it. So far, so good.
But, the greatest command in the Bible is not to love our spouse, though we must do that as well. The greatest command in the Bible is to love God.
Until this morning, I have never used 1 Corinthians 13 to measure my performance in loving God. And that is the challenge this week. I want us both to love God with a love that is consistent with Paul’s description.
Love is:
Patient
Kind
Not arrogant
Not rude
Doesn’t insist on having its own way
Not irritable
Not resentful
Doesn’t enjoy wrong
Seeks truth
Bears all misfortunes
Believes all things
Hopes
Endures
Never ends
I fear that I often fail to love God in the way Paul describes. No doubt you fail as well. So here is 1 Corinthians 13 as it applies to loving God:
I will be patient when I wait, perhaps for a lifetime, for God to answer a prayer.
I will be gentle and unassuming with God.
I will remember that I am the servant, not the sovereign.
I will treat God with respect…..and not misuse his name.
I will put God’s plan for me ahead of my plans.
I won’t gripe or be angry when God overrides my plan.
I will resist wrongdoing; mine, as well as others.
I will seek the truth, even when it is inconvenient
When things go wrong, I will trust God to make them right……in the end.
I will accept the word of God as truth, even when I don’t understand it.
I will live my life in the hope of seeing God, face to face, in paradise, no matter what goes wrong before l get there.
I will accept the reality of eternity as my true home.
It turns out that there is a lot more to loving God than I realized.
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. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Paul, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-12, ESV