The Greatest of All Virtues
Few passages of Scripture are as beloved as 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love. Secular and Christian weddings alike quote, "Love is patient, love is kind." Anniversary cards and household goods, love letters and church walls, posters and window art, even graffiti and t-shirts all tout the phrase, extolling the goodness, the worthiness, the beauty of love. Love, it seems, is universal. What teenager hasn't swooned at the thought of love? What lonely single hasn't longed for companionship? What newlywed hasn't extolled the depths of devotion to their mate? What lover hasn't whispered that almost sacred phrase, "I love you"? Practically everyone knows about love and wants to be loved.
But as I've written previously, even though everyone seems to be talking about love, no one seems to know what it is. Haters keep on hating and liars keep on lying. Churches keep on splitting and couples keep on sinning. Suspicion, presumption, and deception leave the battlefield littered with their victims. Bitterness, selfishness, retaliation, slander, and impatience — these are not the instruments and tools of love, are they? Fears, fakery, and faithlessness give the devil a foothold to lead our hearts astray. If we are the people of the God of love, ought not we be loving as He loves?
Our Father in Heaven has not been silent about love, this greatest of all virtues. Time will fail if I tell of all that He has said on love, so a few summary verses will have to suffice:
The greatest command is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. (1 John 2:5a)
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)
We are in dire need of this kind of love; it is the essence of a Christian's life. Let us turn to the Scriptures and see what this love is. From 1 Corinthians 13 alone, we learn the following:
Love is essential (v1-3)
Love is patient (v4)
Love is kind (v4)
Love is not jealous (v4)
Love does not brag (v4)
Love is not arrogant (v4)
Love does not act unbecomingly (v5)
Love does not seek its own (v5)
Love is not provoked (v5)
Love does not take into account a wrong suffered (v5)
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness (v6)
Love rejoices with the truth (v6)
Love bears all things (v7)
Love believes all things (v7)
Love hopes all things (v7)
Love endures all things (v7)
Love never fails (v8-12)
The greatest of faith, hope, and love is love (v13)
Each of these deserves its own post. I have wanted to start a series on this great chapter for years; now seems as good a time as ever. I write not because I have something to offer, but because I seek to grow and learn. At my best, I am a mere student before the feet of Jesus. He is the only Teacher who can teach on this grand subject without an ounce of hypocrisy; there is no Lover like He.
Lord God, You are love. Forgive me for my failure to love as You have loved. You have loved me in Christ with a perfect, undying love, and yet my love is so cold. Fill my heart again with the love of God, a love that is not mere sentimentalism, a love that is not gross emotionalism, a love that is instead from Christ, rooted and grounded in truth and compassion, rooted and grounded in You. And as You fill my heart with that Heavenly love, may it overflow in love for You, love for Your people, and love for the lost. Amen.