I Corinthians 13 - Love

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poorand give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhoodbehind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love.  Four letters in a small word that can either make or brake you.  This small word contains such power.  When we look at the kind of love Jesus has for us, we see a sacrificial love.  If we follow His example of this type of love, then we will understand it requires the sacrifice of our time, money, effort, etc.  Love isn't something that always comes easy for us to do.  It isn't always something that we want to do.  Yet we must remember that if it were not for Jesus' ultimate sacrifice we wouldn't be here today.  

The Apostle Paul shares with us the attributes of love in I Corinthians 13:4-8.  

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  ⁸ Love never fails.

As I read these words this morning, I thought about how wonderful it would be if we could all show love in this manner.  In order for this type of love to happen we first must love others more than we love ourselves.  That's what Jesus did when He died on the cross to save us.  He loved us more than Himself.  He showed the ultimate love for us.  

How can we show Him love back?  Plain and simple.  By keeping His commandments.  John 15:9-17 reads:

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other. 

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for showing Your love to us.  Thank You for loving us more than You love Yourself.  Lord, I pray You will enable me to love each and every person who I come in contact with today.  Not only do I ask for opportunities to love on people but I also ask for Your love to flow from me.  Father, Your Love is what life is all about.  Without Your Love I am nothing.  Thank You Jesus for being My Love.  Amen.