1
Corinthians 13 for Today
Jesus gave us the key to happiness
and harmony when He said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”1 What
exactly does that mean, in practical, everyday terms? One of the best
explanations ever given is found in the Bible’s “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians
13. Times and terms have changed, but the underlying principles are as true as
ever. Here’s how the apostle Paul might have put it if he were writing to us
today.
1. Though I can speak five languages
and talk intelligently on dozens of subjects, if I don’t have enough love to
keep from gossiping or putting down others, I’m not just making so much useless
noise, I’m being downright destructive.
2. And though I read the Bible
regularly and even know parts of it by heart, and though I pray daily and have
a lot of faith and other spiritual gifts, if I don’t have enough love to
sometimes sacrifice some of my personal desires for others’ sakes, then all of
my “spirituality” amounts to nothing.
3. And though I work two jobs to
provide for my family, and though I give to charity and volunteer for every
community project that comes up, if I don’t show love and kindness to those I
live and work with, all my hard work and self-sacrifice are worthless.
4. Love has a long, hard,
frustrating day at the office, yet doesn’t get snappy and short tempered. Love
is happy for the other guy when he gets all the breaks. Love doesn’t have to
drive the flashiest car, live in the biggest house, or have all the latest
gadgets. Love doesn’t always have to be the boss or have the last word.
5. Love isn’t rude or crude, isn’t
selfish, and doesn’t gripe or pressure others to get what it wants. Love is too
busy being concerned about the needs of others to spend much time worrying
about its own. Love doesn’t freak out when things don’t go its way. Love is
quick to believe the best about people and slow to believe the rest.
6. Love hates to hear gossip and
instead wants only to talk about others’ good qualities and the good that
they’ve done. Love knows that what it listens to, watches, or reads will affect
its attitudes and actions and thereby have an effect on others, so it’s careful
about how it spends its time.
7. Love is flexible, takes things in
stride, and can handle whatever comes its way. Love is always ready to give
others the benefit of the doubt and looks for the best in them. Love wants to
see others reach their full potential and does all it can to make that happen.
Love never runs out of patience, even with those who are slow to get with the
program or do their share. Love doesn’t keep looking at its watch when others
are talking.
8. Love never fails. I fail others,
and others can fail me. We all can be mistaken, misguided, or confused at
times. Our words and deeds often fall short, and our bright ideas don’t always
play out the way we want or expect them to.
9. We’re frail, fallible, and often
foolish, and our understanding of the world we live in, not to mention the
world to come, is only partial at best.
10. But when God’s Spirit of love
lives in us, that changes everything.
11. We’re really just children when
it comes to practicing real love, but God can help us outgrow our childish
ways.
12. Without Him we’re clueless when
it comes to love and the other things that matter most in life, but when we
live in His kingdom—the kingdom of Heaven that Jesus said is even now within
us—we can see things as He does, get our priorities straight, pull out the
stops, and live and love to the full.
13. There are lots of nice things in
life and lots of good things, but none are as good or as important as love!
—Adapted from Maria Fontaine by
Josie Clark
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Love
power
There is no difficulty that enough
love will not conquer, no disease that enough love will not heal. No door that
enough love will not open, no gulf that enough love will not bridge. No wall
that enough love will not throw down, no sin that enough love will not redeem.
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the
outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. Sufficient love will
dissolve it all.—Emmet Fox
1. Matthew 22:39
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