Characteristics of Love III

We come to the final part of this love discussion. I must admit when I started studying this topic I did not believe it was going to go this long, however God had other plans. You might have been wondering when we would get to the most iconic and quoted section of scripture regarding love, which is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. But we couldn’t talk about love being attributed within other actions until we had a solid foundation. Neverthless, we are now able to recognize that love can be found in all actions we take. A wise friend told me that love is the flavor that makes our actions towards others enjoyable to God. Without love, our actions are bland or even disgusting and negatively attributable. So what does love do? Let’s take a look at what Paul says to the Corinth church.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Paul first argues in the most basic function, that of communication. If we do not have love in our talk, we are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” Our communication needs to be filled with love. What do we not see here however? The words “acceptance”, “non argumentantive”, nor “silent.” Christians are to be representatives of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:20a “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Pointedly this means we are to stand for what God wants, and that at times might mean we are against the popular belief of those around us.

Paul continues, “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” If we study His word and are committed to endless hours of scripture review and memorization but do not apply it; we are failing to love. On the other end of the spectrum, when we focus so much on helping people with their worldly needs such as shelter, clothing, and food but forget to help them spiritually; we are failing to love them, “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

It might be speculation on my own part, but here I wonder if Paul knew he needed to simply define and bring to light characteristics of love that can be found within other actions as we apply God’s love to others. This is why he makes such a 90 degree turn with the following verses.

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Oh how this section of verses has been taken out of context! So much pain, misery, and shame has been brought on victims and innocence all in the name of “loving one another.” Yet, we can see from God’s listing of love that this does not mean we are to accept one’s sin as ok; but rather that this sin does not hold you back from the Lord when Christ is brought into the life of the sinner. God understands that we fail to love as love was originally designed, this is why one day He will do this.

“8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

God understands that the person saved today, is still in this sinful body. This means we are destined 100% for God and to be with Him in Heaven, however at this moment we are still struggling with the old self. The sinful desires that cause us to have the issues we do. Practically speaking this makes loving others harder because at times our actions might not have love. But we who are waiting to see the Lord and are eager for Him to finish in us a good work, will have a burning desire for Him to finish this process and shed us of the sin that causes us to not fully practice love. Believers today see Christ dimly in our reflection, but one day when when we are taken home and given a new perfect body free from sin, we will see the Holiness bestowed on us and be righteous in all our actions and freely able to love as love was defined.

This does not mean we can quit now, in fact we need to stay even more focused. Paul closes the final part of the chapter with helping us understand where love is stationed in importance to God. “13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” God is such an amazing God but also a friend, wanting us to know what we need to work on so that we can better “love” those around us. How awesome is God to bring such a marvelous idea of “love” that is an action, a definitive capability that allows us to freely with our own personalities look for ways to “love” on those around us. We must be alert to keep sin from polluting the word and its actions in our life but be readily available to extend love even where we do not want to. For Christ loved us that while we, yes you and I were still sinners, He died for you and me. He has shown the ultimate action of love by dying for us and has now come back to life to be our representative to call us “innocent.” No matter what you have done, Christ wants to demonstrate the proper usage of love to you. Remember this, before you can ever truly love someone else you need to accept Christ’s love for you. So remember, if you truly want to understand love, you need not look any farther than in the Man and God, Jesus Christ. What a marvelous and exciting example we have of love! I hope you have enjoyed this series and I personally would love to hear how God has loved you in your personal life and in how you have been able to love others as Christ wants us to love. Feel free to reach out on our contact page.

Until next time.

Jl