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I want to read this very familiar passage, to refresh our memories of the importance of love as set forth in these 13 verses of 1 Corinthians 13.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love
This definition and description of love is quite the opposite of what we think of as love today. But this is God’s kind of love, and it is the kind of love we should have for God and for others.
Some dear friends once asked me, “How can we pray for you?”, and my ready reply was, “Just pray that I’ll love Jesus more and more and have a heart to love others.” If those things are in place in my life, everything else follows. If not, nothing I do has any importance or meaning. Paul said I could speak with the voice of an angel, but it wouldn’t mean anything without a loving heart.
Paul also said that love is the fulfilling of the law. This was a radical statement in his day because all of his fellow Jews were focused on fulfilling the Ten Commandments and the 110 other commandments which they had manufactured out of them. Can you imagine how difficult that must have been, just to remember all of them? And now Paul brings this revolutionary principle: “If you do one thing, you will do these 110 things without even thinking about them. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfill the whole law.”
If we focus on ONE thing—being filled with love for Jesus and love for others—all other spiritual virtues automatically follow. Yet so often we reverse the process. I think of a woman who is in many ways very godly. She prays all the time; she studies her Bible constantly; she is at every church service; she keeps herself separate from harmful activities of any type; her life is exemplary in many ways. Yet, when she is with people, almost every time she causes others to be uncomfortable and hurts feelings because of her words, which sound unloving and self-righteous.
Oh, we need to pray and read our Bibles and keep our lives separate from worldly actions, but those things should follow love, not precede it. Without being focused on love, we may do a lot of things that look good, but they’ll never impress God, because he says without love, it amounts to nothing in his sight.
Paul begins that 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians by contrasting love with several things. First, with eloquence. I would truly love to be a great speaker. I’d love to be one of those people who can mesmerize an audience with their incredible ability to communicate. But Paul reminds me that even if I could speak with the tongue of an angel, it would be a big zero without love.
Then he contrasts love with the gifts of prophecy and the ability to understand great mysteries and knowledge. Just imagine being able to speak prophetically, to explain the deep truths of the Bible. Wouldn’t it be great to have all knowledge of these things, so that we could clear up mysteries and impart understanding? Yes, but without a loving, caring heart, it counts for nothing.
I want to be a woman of faith. I pray often that God will increase my faith, because I know that without faith it’s impossible to please God. But, you know, I could demonstrate faith so great that miracles could take place in front of your eyes, but without love, it would amount to nothing.
I don’t know any martyrs personally, do you? But there have been many, and many even in our day. People who were willing to give their lives for the gospel. I often wonder if I would have that much commitment if it came down to it. Well, even if I did, without love, it wouldn’t count. I could give away everything I own to poor people, but it’s not enough without love.
Paul certainly wanted to get this point across to us, didn’t he? That’s because he knew that love is the missing ingredient so very often. And he knew that if love is there, all these other things follow in the right way.
How about in your life? Are you busy doing things for Jesus, giving your time and resources? That’s great, but does it come from a heart overflowing with love? Do you stand true to Jesus on your job? Is your life pure and blameless? Great, it should be. But how about your love for those people you rub shoulders with each day? Do you love even the unlovable, even your enemies?
The definition of love is not easy to come by because when we talk about love, it can have all kinds of different meanings. We say, “I love my dog, I love my job, I love my new shoes, I love my family, I love God.” But all of those have different meanings and values to us.
Paul gives us a list of the evidences of love, and here they are: patient, kind, generous, humble, courteous, unselfish, good tempered, without guile. You’ll notice that all of these relate to people and how we treat them. Loving God is not difficult to do when you have some understanding of what he is like. But loving people—ah, there’s the rub.
Someone has said, “The greatest thing a person can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of his other children.” Every time you or I lack patience in our treatment of others, we lack love. Whenever we fail to be kind, even to strangers and people who are not kind to us, we have failed in the love department. When you lose your temper or behave in a sullen and moody way, you’re not living in love. When you talk about yourself a lot and make yourself the center of attention, you’re not treating others lovingly.
As I’ve explored the meaning of love according to 1 Corinthians 13, I’ve wanted to crawl under a table a few times. I miss the mark frequently. If love doesn’t consume me so that I demonstrate these qualities in my life consistently, all this time and effort I put into the ministry counts for NOTHING.
Just try to let that principle sink into your head and heart. What we do counts for a big ZERO if we don’t practice love on a consistent basis. Well, how in the world do we learn to practice love? Let me encourage you to begin by reading 1 Corinthians 13 every day for at least the next 30 days. The more you read it and meditate on the overwhelming importance of love, the more you’re going to want to love.
Then pray that chapter into your life each day. Pray about those specific characteristics of love and ask God to help you practice them. We need to practice love—to learn to love –and that takes a plan and time.
Let me share something written by a saint many years ago. Henry Drummond writes: “Politeness has been defined as love in trifles. Courtesy is said to be love in little things. And the one secret of politeness is to love. Love cannot behave itself unseemly. You can put the most untutored persons into the highest society, and if they have a reservoir of love in their hearts, they will not behave themselves unseemly. They simply cannot do it.”
Unseemly is an old-fashioned word that simply means inappropriately. A person who is full of love cannot behave inappropriately toward others. CANNOT; it isn’t possible. That’s why love has to come first in our lives, because everything else we should be for Jesus flows from a heart of love.
So, when we see inappropriate behavior in our lives—behavior that doesn’t match 1 Corinthians 13—it’s because we haven’t first focused on filling our lives with love. How much do you pray that God will fill you with his love? How much do you think about the qualities of love in your life?
Remember, everything we’ve done without a loving motive is going to be wood, hay and stubble when we see Jesus. It will burn up at the judgment seat and count for nothing in eternity, no matter how impressive it may appear here on earth. It doesn’t matter if the world thinks you’re a terrific success, without love you’re a failure. But the good news is, we can learn to practice love.
In his small but powerful book entitled The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond writes: “The world is not a playground; it is a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday, but an education. And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better we can love.”
What makes a person a good artist, a good painter, a good mathematician, a good musician? Practice. And how do we become better at loving people? Practice. We must learn how to practice love.
First Corinthians 13 love is not a feeling or an enthusiastic emotion. Oh, sometimes it includes good feelings and emotions. But often it is simply a choice—a decision to do what love would do, without the feelings or desire. That means we can love people who aren’t lovable, people who are our enemies, who give us headaches, who make our life difficult.
That’s because I can choose to be kind to anyone. I can choose not to be rude. I can choose not to boast about myself. I can choose to forgive. I can choose not to pass along the bad things I hear about someone but focus on the good instead. I can choose never to give up on someone, to keep hoping and hanging in there with him or her. And when I do those things, I am practicing love.
Why don’t we, then, make a decision to practice love, just like we’d practice the piano if we were trying to be a pianist. As I was reading that 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians again, that phrase “Love is not rude” really got to me. So I prayed, “Lord, today help me not to be rude to anyone – the clerk in the store, my co-workers, sales people on the telephone – anyone. Help me today to practice love by not being rude.” That is how you learn to put this beautiful passage of Scripture into your life and make it real.
Here’s my challenge to all of us.: Make a commitment to read 1 Corinthians 13 every day for the next 30 days. Pray every day that God will teach you how to practice love. Focus on one aspect of that love each day and ask God to help you make it a reality in your life.
If all of us would do that, I believe we would see miracles start to happen. Miracles in us, as we see how our attitudes toward other people change. Miracles in our relationships, as people react differently to us when we practice love. And miracles in our opportunities to share our faith. I sure hope lots of you will join me in this challenge.
To encourage you to do that, I have written a 30-Day Plan to Practice Love. I find that putting some structure in place really helps me to put into practice what I know I should do. So, this simple chart will help you learn to practice love—love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. And that will be transforming in your own life.