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“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)
The ”love” being spoken of here is not human love, not love based in our emotions or in our moods. But it is agape love which comes from God and which prefers all that God prefers, because he is love. And he prefers all that is honest, faithful, morally pure, righteous, godly, and obedient to him and to his commands. So to love God is to submit to his will and to obey his commands, and it is for us to forsake our sins in order to do what is right.
Love is Patient and Kind
When we love God and other humans with this kind of love we will be persistent in following the Lord, even through all the trials that we go through in this life. We will endure unjust suffering for the sake of righteousness, and we will continue to love, even our enemies, and even those who do evil against us and who persecute us and lie about us. We are not tolerant of sin but we will persevere in loving those who mistreat us.
And if we are kind to people, we will not lie to them just to make them feel better. Lies are never kind, no matter how we may dress them up to appear as though they are kind. But kindness is compassionate, thoughtful, caring, sympathetic, and benevolent. And kindness is speaking the truth, in love, when necessary, to help another person out of his/her life of sin and into faith in the Lord Jesus, and to walks of obedience to the Lord’s commands.
Love does not Envy or Boast
To envy others is to be jealous of them and of what they have that we do not have. And this may lead to greed and to hate and to bitterness and spite and malice and the mistreatment of those we might envy. And it may not be that what they have is what we want, but that what they possess is an offense to us because we know it is something we should desire to have but do not possess because of an unwillingness to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.
To boast is selfish in nature. It is to draw attention to ourselves and to vaunt ourselves up, to brag, for the purpose to get others to see how great we are and to give us lots of accolades for our accomplishments. But we have to be careful with this so that we don’t misjudge others and think that they are boasting when they are not. Sometimes they are just sharing with us their joys or their progress in an area of their lives and are giving God the glory.
Love is not Arrogant or Rude
If someone is arrogant he is puffed up with an inflated ego beyond the capacity of who he really is and what he has actually accomplished in this life. And he wants everyone else to know how great he is and all that he has accomplished himself, in the flesh. But as followers of Jesus Christ we are to be humble people who recognize our all sufficiency in the Lord Jesus and that it is in his power and strength that we are able to accomplish good.
And if someone is rude he is ill-mannered, disrespectful, selfish, unloving, unkind, thoughtless, thinking only of himself. He is someone who is behaving improperly and inappropriately according to God and to the Scriptures. He is behaving in a manner which is shameful and disgraceful by God’s standards, and not by the standards of the world. His behavior is indecent, immoral, and dishonoring of God and of his commands for how we are to live.
Love does not Insist on Its Own Way
Love is not self-seeking, thinking only of self and of what you want, without regard for what God wants and without regard for the needs of others or without thought of how your actions might impact or injure others. The self-seeking are the selfish, the self-indulgent, the morally impure, the indecent, the rebellious, the disobedient, the hateful, the resentful, the bitter, and the angry all rolled into one. For everything is about what they want.
Love is not Irritable or Resentful
Someone who is irritable is short-tempered, always on edge, always ready to pick a fight with someone else. He is like a prickly thorn that you cannot get near without being stabbed. He is probably someone who is doing the evil he knows he ought not to do, and who is resentful and bitter towards those who are living for the Lord and who are doing what is right. So they will be an offense to him and so will set him off, because they are an affront to him.
Love Does not Rejoice at Wrongdoing
Now this is huge! So many people have this one all backwards. They find pleasure in what is ungodly and immoral and what is hateful and bitter and resentful. They applaud and laugh at what is pure evil and what is hateful towards others because they are following the ways of the world and of the flesh and not the ways of God and of righteousness. But we are not to rejoice at what is evil but only with what is good and is right and moral.
Love Rejoices with The Truth
And this is another one that people have all backwards today, too. So many are being taught that the truth is bad and that the lies are good, and that it is better to lie to people than to speak the truth to them, in love. So, if you are a truth teller, and one who calls out the lies and the deceptions, then you are likely to be regarded as “unloving.” But the opposite of that is what is true. Lies are never kind! Truth, spoken in love, is truly the kindest.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
Now, we must be very guarded in how we interpret the meaning of these words, for I don’t believe this English translation gives the correct meaning intended here. For we are not to believe “all things.” For if we did, we would believe everything anyone has ever said or any doctrine or religion, etc. And we are not to endure false teachings and immorality nor put up with lies and mockery of God and of his word. And our hope is to only be in the Lord.
Perhaps this is intended to be a summary of all of the above, reminding us of all that love is and that love is not. We are to bear up under unjust suffering, and we are to keep the faith even when the world comes crashing down all around us, and when others treat us with disdain. And we are not to lose hope when life doesn’t go the way that we expected. And we are to endure unjust suffering on account of the name of Jesus and his gospel.
In Harmony
An Original Work / September 2, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Based off Ro. 12:9-21; 1 Pet. 3:8-17
Love each other truly.
Cling to what is good.
Hate all that is evil.
Never lack in zeal.
Serve the Lord with fervor.
Joyful in hope be;
Patient in affliction;
Praying faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
Share with all God’s people
Who are found in need.
Do not be conceited.
Sympathetic be.
Love, and show compassion
In humility.
Keep your tongue from evil.
Peaceful you must be.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
God sees who are righteous;
Listens to their prayers.
But He’s against evil –
Is His to avenge.
Do not fear what they fear.
Suffer patiently.
In your hearts, make Christ Lord.
Serve Him faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
Love Is, Is Not
An Original Work / February 10, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
