Love is…

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Scripture 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NRSV)

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Devotion:

            Today there are many ways to finish this sentence. In fact, I looked it up on Google and found over 17 billion entries. One wonders if there are so many ideas about what love is how could a person ever decide between these competing ideas. Can we ever truthfully say we know what the secret to what love is? It is fair to say that a majority of these solutions to the question of love are recent when compared to these words we have above from the Apostle Paul. Yet these ancient words seem to have the “ring of truth” to them that many of their modern counterparts do not. However, the first result is from a Boston church that is deeply moving in its description of what love is. Most of those that follow are not exaltation of the kind of love shown here in this passage.

            When we examine these words from the Apostle Paul, we find the way of love suggested is not an easy road to walk. The very first descriptor is that love is patient. Right away we run up against our modern culture. We are not very patient people in this 21st century. From microwave meals to on-demand television we are a culture trained by our technological overlords to want what we want as quickly as possible. It affects church goers just like the rest of humankind. We want to spend exactly 1 hour in church a week. Let the sermon run a little long or we have a baptism or Lord’s Supper that delays us just a little bit and you will hear grumbling from the pews. We are not a patient people.

            Next on the list is love is kind. If we are in a good mood, we can find kindness quite easy to offer one another. But let something tick us off and all our kindness drains away, and we are left with a brittle hard exterior that love cannot penetrate Paul seems to be urging us on here. Asking us to move beyond whatever irritates us in the moment to show kindness to strangers and friends alike.

            Now we come to a list of four things love is not. Love simply has no place for envy, boasting, arrogance and rudeness. These traits are all too common in our modern world. We have come in this 21st century we almost expect to be treated to one or more of these character traits on a daily basis. From secretly coveting our neighbors new toy to watching professional athletes boast because they just delivered an unbelievable catch in the endzone to win the game. These traits are endemic to our modern world.

            Paul goes on to say that love does not insist on its own way. Our modern culture is almost set up, so we get things our own way. We do not have much good to say when we are denied our own way. Likewise, when we are denied our own way, we frequently become irritable and resentful toward those things or persons who have denied us our “right” to have some pleasure or entertainment. Then Paul tackles our affection for wrongdoing and our aversion to the truth. It seems that some people today are simply fans of those who do wrong. Standing for the truth is getting to be a lonely endeavor. If one needs proof of this one need only to look at our politics. Where we routinely see the wrong exalted while the truth remains on the sidelines.

            In conclusion Paul mentions character traits of love that we should imitate. Love bears all the abuse and evil that is thrown its way, Love believes all things taking and clinging to the truths of scripture with tenacity. Love hopes all things, in spite of the current situations in the world the loving person clings determinedly to the hope of the 2nd coming. Finally, love endures all things. Today’s culture has a strong tendency to give up when the going gets rough. Not the Christian filled with God’s love. That person will endure any hardship, trial, or pain for the sake of the Jesus and his cross. God is love and we are to be like God in that we love one another (even our enemies) with that same love with which Christ loves us. Amen.

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