DEVOTION – DAY 318

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 “God’s Love” 

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 “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 records of wrongs.”

As Valentine’s Day is around the corner, it is good to look at the topic of love from the viewpoint of the Bible. One of the most well-known passages about love is found in 1 Cor.13:4-7. The apostle Paul used these verses to describe God’s love – His love is always of a higher standard than the kind of love people associated today, including love associated with Valentine’s Day. God’s love should be the benchmark that Christians should aim to show to others. God’s love is patient – this means that we patiently choose to slow down to walk beside someone who is old and infirm to keep that person company. It means that we patiently feed someone who is unable to feed himself or herself even if it takes an hour or more to do so.

Love is kind – it means that we will never choose to do or say anything to hurt another person. Being kind means that we must be ready to comfort someone who is troubled or sad, even if it means going out of our way to do so, because we love and care for that person. Love does not envy – it means that we are to get rid of any desire to want what other people have. The Pharisees envied Jesus Christ and their envy caused Jesus to be crucified. Joseph’s brothers envied Joseph because their father loved Joseph the most, and their envy caused Joseph to be sold as a slave. Cain envied Abel and his envy caused Cain to kill Abel. Envy is thus a sin, and if we say we love others, there is no place for envy in our hearts. 

Love does not boast – if we love others, we do not show rudeness or disrespect to others. We will think carefully what we say to others. We would not want to draw attention to ourselves or our achievements. That is what boasting does. Love is not easily angered – that means that we are quick to forgive others and to show grace rather than allow anger to be our natural reaction when someone does something that makes us unhappy. Love keeps no records of wrongs – that means that we never keep a score with others. It means that when we say we forgive someone, we choose to forget what they had said or did to us and we never bring the matter up again. We do that because we love that person. These are just some ways that God’s definition of love should be our benchmark to follow.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for us, and setting a higher benchmark of love for us to emulate. Please help us to show true love to others in ways that mirror your love for us. In the great name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Questions

1. Evaluate the way you love others against love as defined in 1 Cor.13:4-5. How do you compare? Share.
2. In what aspects can you improve in the way you choose to love others and what changes will you make to bring about the improvement?
3. Why should your love for others follow God’s definition of love? Discuss.