“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 records 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
If you’ve been to a wedding, you’ve likely heard this scripture read. It is one of those recognizable passages that is perhaps often heard, but never truly dwelt upon. I know that was the case for me. Because much of my past exposure to these verses came through the setting of a wedding, it was so easy for me to limit it’s meaning to something that is only shared within a worldly marriage. I would hear it, and immediately deposit it into “marriage” box in my mind. Surely it wasn’t applicable to me at this point in life. But oh, how wrong I was.
Throughout scripture, we are provided with various tools to evaluate how we are coming along on this journey of faith. Tools to reorient us to our purpose, remind us of our focus, and to reveal where we have grown or where there may be room to grow. This scripture is one of those heart checking tools.
Before jumping into a full-on self evaluation, let’s look back on 1 John 4
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes form God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. …God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
God is love and it is through the extension of His love in Jesus Christ, that we are not only loved, but are also invited to further extend the love that has been freely given to us.
With this in mind, 1 Corinthians 13 is much more than a wedding day statement. It is not merely a definition of love, especially the worldly view of love, but it is a description of God as love, since God is love.
I want to invite you to read through the following statements, replacing ‘love’ with ‘God’.
“________ is large and incredibly patient.
________ is gentle and consistently kind to all.
________ refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else.
________ does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance.
________ does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor.
________ is not easily irritated or quick to take offense.
________ joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong.
________ is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others.
________ never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.
________ never stops loving” TPT.
Now, I invite you to go back through the following statements, placing your name in the blank.
Humbling. It is absolutely humbling. It is eye-opening, it is challenging, and it could likely be labeled as many other things. But most importantly of all, it is a calling, and even more so, a command.
Fittingly, this morning’s message was based on Matthew 22:37-38; labeled in my Bible as ‘The greatest Commandment.’
“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Recognizing that your name is to fit into this photo of love may have stopped you in your tracks today, and honestly, it probably should. It is a tall order, without a doubt.
But I want to remind you, just as I was reminded this morning, and just as we are reminded in 1 John 4, you are a vessel of love. You are not the source of love. You do not have to put all your effort into loving others. You should not grow weary in attempting to extend your love.
You simply need to love the Lord your God, and through that love relationship, this beautiful photo of love will flow from you.
“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Utilize the tool you have been given in 1 Corinthians 13. Evaluate yourself today.
Where you lack, love Him first, that His love may flow through you.
