Saturday in the Word | Love is the Way

1 Corinthians 13

This week we are continuing our journey through the Simple Bible Reading Plan. There are some chapters of the Bible are so familiar that we can almost forget to listen to them.

1 Corinthians 13 is one of those chapters. You’ve probably heard or seen it at a wedding. It was a part of our wedding.

We put pieces of it on wall art. We quote, “Love is patient. Love is kind.” Beautiful words.

But Paul wasn’t writing these words for a wedding. He was writing to a church that was struggling with division, pride, competition, and spiritual competition and one-upmanship. People had their own agendas. They knew a lot about God but were having trouble loving one another.

Sound familiar?

Been there, done that.

Paul makes a startling point: You can have impressive gifts, great knowledge, extraordinary faith, radical generosity and still miss the point if you don’t have love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

Ouch.

How often do we confuse doing things for God with loving people for God.

Love isn’t merely a feeling. Paul gets very practical.

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It doesn’t envy.
It doesn’t boast.
It isn’t arrogant.
It isn’t rude.
It doesn’t insist on its own way.
It isn’t irritable or resentful.
It rejoices with truth.

That’s some checklist. There are days I don’t get very far down the list.

Christian love isn’t primarily about trying harder to become a nicer person. It’s about allowing Christ’s love to take root in us so deeply that it begins to change the way we see and treat other people.

Especially the difficult ones and when we’re tired or when we’re convinced we’re right.

Do people see Jesus in us when we don’t get our way?

I’ve spent most of my life having people do what I tell them. In this season, I’m nobody’s boss. I’m simply inviting people to join God in the work He is doing. And though that can be challenging, I’m grateful. It wouldn’t have been possible twenty months ago.

As he lands the plane, Paul tells us that gifts will pass away. Even knowledge will pass away. What remains?

Faith. Hope. Love.

And the greatest of these is love.

Why?

Because love is what looks most like Jesus.

A Saturday Question

Who is God inviting you to love better today? Ask God to help you see that person the way He does. Then take one small step toward love.

Friend, love doesn’t always require a grand gesture. Sometimes it simply requires us to stop making everything about ourselves.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Teach me to love like You.

Make me patient when I want to be impatient, kind when I want to be critical, humble when I want to be right, and forgiving when I want to hold a grudge. Help me remember that my faith is not demonstrated merely by what I believe, but by how I love.

Today, show me one person I can love well.

And when I struggle, remind me that I don’t have to manufacture Your love. I simply need to receive it and let it flow through me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

The world doesn’t need more people who can tell others what love is. It needs people who can show them.

Don’t just read the Bible. Live it.