I Corinthians 13 (MSG)
“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy
but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a
rusty gate.”
Wow, what a metaphor. If you try to help someone but aren’t kind toward them, you are a “creaking of a rusty gate.” I would not want that to be said of me. I want to speak life into others, not be an irritating annoyance that others hope will leave soon.
“If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his
mysteries and making everything plain as day, and
if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and
it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.”
We all want to speak with power, but how do we do that? Is it with incredible faith or with simple kindness?
“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the
stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten
nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I’m bankrupt without love.”
This passage makes me think of Psalm 40, “Sacrifice you do not desire…” God has always been after our hearts, not our hands. If we give him our hearts, our hands come with the deal. Being full of God’s love happens before we can love others. You can’t give what you don’t have.
“Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
He doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,”
Love is content, persistent, and motivated to help others. That’s the opposite of pride. Love is, by its nature, invitational. Thinking of others first is part of its definition. Think of how God loves you. Love like that.
“Isn’t always “me first,”
It doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,”
Love is humble, not demanding or entitled. Before sharing truth, consider the option of “flowering” with it, of building truth into a beautiful, growing experience. Love and truth can build up, create hope, and dismantle shame. Kindness is a high value in God’s economy.
“Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.”
Love is tolerating petty things. How? By trusting (resting in) God enough to endure the ‘discomfort of the little.’ God is the judge. But his judgments are not executed in our time frame. Patience is only possible with the lens of eternity. This kind of love, based on the person of Jesus, endures. He is our example.
“Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over
some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding
will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the
truth, and what we say about God is always
incomplete. But when the Complete arrives,
our incompletes will be canceled.”
Let’s be honest. We are short-sighted people with short-term minds. We rarely love with eternity in mind (the big life we will live after this life is done). Human hearts can be hard and self-protective. God is so far beyond our mental grasp that it’s like trying to talk to an ant (we are the ant). Our words fall short of who he is. He is a mystery. In eternity, he will remain a mystery. His character is known, but his actions are unpredictable.
“When I was an infant at my mother’s breast,
I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up,
I left those infant ways for good.”
This is Paul’s poetic way of saying, “Grow up.” Love is not a standard to reach but a lifestyle to live. When we love that, life becomes an adventure.
“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
One of the great phrases of the Christian faith is, “There will be a day.” Good people die, injustice wins, and evil appears to be in control. But this isn’t the end. “There will be a day” when God will make things right. With eternity in mind, we can rest because we don’t have to demand our rights. God will make things fair, but he won’t do it by the end of the workday. In the meantime, our job is straightforward: love one another as Christ loved the Church.