1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Even though this passage is frequently used in wedding ceremonies, it has nothing to do with romantic love. Instead, it is about agape love, which comes not from the human heart, but only from the Holy Spirit living at the very core of a person. It is not an ideal to be strived for, but a reality that only exists in those who have come to Jesus, and that is to be lived out day by day, not just between husband and wife, but among all believers as they move God’s agenda forward.
Paul is still talking about correctives for the divisions in the church at Corinth. The first corrective he talked about in chapter twelve is to realize that a key function of spiritual gifts is always to unite God’s people under the greater reality of the body of Christ. The second, explored in chapter thirteen, is that agape love, available only through the Holy Spirit, must be allowed to unite the body so that the body can do its work unimpaired by quarrels, backbiting, and pride, each of which is love’s antithesis.
Paul lists several characteristics of true agape love, which need no elaboration. A person can tell real agape love a mile away, and you can also tell quickly where it is not present. Few of these characteristics were visible in the fractious Corinthian church, which clearly showed that their biggest problem, and the source of much of their slackness and divisiveness, was a lack of real agape love.
What Paul is doing in this paragraph is not encouraging the Corinthians to be more loving, to strive toward developing more of these positive characteristics. He is simply holding up a mirror to them, a pattern of living and loving that exemplified what God has designed his Church to look like and to live like, so that they can see how far they are falling short of that pattern. The desired action is not more striving after an impossible standard, but genuine repentance, and a wholehearted seeking after the Holy Spirit. It is not reformation of actions and attitudes among the people that Paul is aiming at; it is genuine spiritual transformation, allowing the Holy Spirit to live this life of holy love through them.
Father, I know that there have been many books written and seminars conducted on how to be more loving and considerate, especially in the context of marriage. But the kind of love described by Paul here, and lived out by him as well, is never the fruit of striving and gradual improvement. It comes only from Your Holy Spirit set completely free to work in every area of our hearts. Thus, it makes perfect sense that, if the mirror of these verses shows us falling short in love, we are not to try harder, but to open ourselves more fully to the filling of Your Spirit, so that He can more fully live out this love in and through us. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to see this reality today. Amen.