1 Corinthians 13:8-12

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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 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 the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a 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. -1 Corinthians 13:8-12

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In the church of Corinth, people were all trying one-up each other by showing off their “spiritual” gifts.  People who spoke in tongues or were able to prophesy considered themselves better than those who can’t.

The Apostle Paul was putting all of them in their place.  In heaven, there is no need to speak in the tongues of angels because everyone will be communicating with one another in ways we can’t even imagine right now.  In heaven, there’s no need to predict what is to come because we will know and understand reality and a completely different way than we do now.

So speaking in tongues will cease and predicting the future will cease, but not love.  Love will still be around in heaven and that’s what makes it so much more important than anything else.  Our love here on earth has the power to stretch into eternity.

Love never fails. 

1 Corinthians 13:7

“...always perseveres...” -1 Corinthians 13:7

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What does it mean that love always perseveres?  It means two things.  The first is that our love is bound to be tested.  Perseverance suggests hardships.  It suggests resistance.

Think about someone you love.  There must have been times when it was difficult to love that individual.  As Christians, we know fundamentally every person has a sinful nature and thus are bound to sin against others—even against those who love the individual, especially against those who love the individual.  The people who love the most have the greatest potential to hurt us with their sin.

But love perseveres.  Love endures even when it is hard and tough.  Even when there seems like it’s running on empty, love continues to love.

Jesus is the ultimate role model for this.  He went to the Cross for the very people who put him there—that’s you and me!  Jesus didn’t just die for people who needed him, he died for people who hurt him and yes, even killed him.

If you think about, because of our sin, all of us are responsible for Jesus’ death.  And yet, love perseveres.  Despite our sin and despite how much we hurt him and even killed him, Jesus continues to love us.

And when we accept his love, we become conduits of his love toward others.  When we allow Jesus into our lives, our love becomes invincible like his love because it is really his love flowing through us.  And because his love perseveres, so do ours.

Does your love persevere?  Is the love of Jesus flowing through you? 

1 Corinthians 13:7

“...always hopes...” -1 Corinthians 13:7

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What does it mean that love always hopes?  It means that love doesn’t write people off as unredeemable.  We all have people in our lives that we think, “Wow, this person is pretty bad, will he or she ever change?”  God’s power to change hearts and transform people is bigger than our sinful natures.

That’s why love hopes.  Love can only hope because it rests upon the power of God.  It hopes to change the worse sinner to a lover of God and a lover of people.  The Apostle Paul once persecuted Christians and even watched them get murdered.  God took Paul and transformed him to become the greatest missionary who has ever lived.  Paul wrote more books in the New Testament than anyone else.  Love always hopes.

Think about someone in your life you can’t stand.  Now pray for yourself and then pray for this person.  Ask God to help you love this person.  Ask God to use his power to change this person’s life.

Love always hopes.

1 Corinthians 13:7

“It always protects...” -1 Corinthians 13:7

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What does it mean that love protects?  Love is thinking of others’ needs before your own needs.  To protect someone is to shield them even at great cost to yourself.  Love thinks of others first.

Jesus is the ultimate example of how love protects.  We’re all headed to a place of compete separation from God, and Jesus protected us by coming down and making the ultimate sacrifice.  He took on the punishment so we wouldn’t have to.  That’s a love that protects.

The way Jesus’ love protects us, may it inspire us to do the same for others.

Do you think of others needs before your own?  Are you so wrapped up in worrying about your own issues that you never think about the needs of others?  Does your love protect others?

1 Corinthians 13:5

“...it keeps no record of wrongs...” -1 Corinthians 13:5

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This is oft misinterpreted verse.  To keep no records of wrong doesn’t mean you forget about it.  God keeps no record of our wrongs doesn’t mean that He’s thinking, “What did Gerald do again?  I forgot.”  To keep no record of wrongs means that you treat that person AS IF the person didn’t commit the crime or the offense.  It’s another way of saying, “Love forgives.”

When we DO keep a record of wrongs, we still allowed what the person did to us to bother us and to shade the way we treat the offender.  That’s not true forgiveness.  When God forgave us of our sins, He doesn’t say, “I forgive you but I’m still going to condemn you a little bit.”  There’s no condemnation.  When God forgives, it’s a true and complete forgiveness.

That’s what we ought to do when we are wronged.  We need to ask God to help us be like Him—to forgive fully and completely, not keeping a mental record of wrongs that we keep going over and over again in our minds.

Are you keeping a record of wrongs from those who have offended you or hurt you?  Or, are you asking God to help you forgive people in the same way He has forgiven us?

1 Corinthians 13:5

“...it is not easily angered...” -1 Corinthians 13:5

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Anger is not necessarily a bad thing.  Jesus got angry plenty of times at people while he was still on earth.  So why does it say here in the “love chapter” that loves i not easily anger.   The anger here is referring to a selfish anger—an anger that someone has wronged you or robbed you of your glory.  It’s inward focus.

Jesus’ anger was always out of concern for others.  He was angry at sin because of how sin hurts people.  He was angry when people sinned not to condemn them but because how those people were enslaved by sin.

Are you hothead?  When someone makes a joke at your expense do you get immediately offended?  Perhaps your anger is inward focused.  Pray and ask God to help you to focus not on yourself but on others.  When we begin to focus outside of ourselves, it becomes much easier to forgive and to bear with others.

If you find it difficult to forgive people, remember God forgave us.  If he was easily angered, we’d all be in trouble.  But because God is slow to anger, we are able to enjoy His forgiveness.  As such we should mirror God’s love as others wrong us or offend us.

How is your disposition?  Do you get angry easily or are you slow to anger?

1 Corinthians 13:5

“...it is not self-seeking...” -1 Corinthians 13:5

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For the past couple of days we’ve been talking about how love looks away from the self toward others.  This is what it means to say that love is not self-seeking.

As a Christian, this is one of the most difficult things for me to practice.  Because of my sinful nature, almost anything that I do is tainted with ulterior motives.  It’s so easy for pride or self-gain to seep into even the most altruistic and seemingly selfless act.  The Bible actually says that even our best deeds are like filthy rags before God.  It’s because our hearts are inherently selfish and always seeks to glorify itself.

Part of being a Christian is to tease out and recognize the selfish motives behind your actions.  This takes a lot of time with God because we’re good at deceiving ourselves.  We lie to ourselves about our motives and our agendas.  But when we spend time with God, His light brings to the surface all our ulterior motives and selfish intentions.  It’s super uncomfortable, but also incredibly freeing.  

Once our selfish motives are recognized, we can lift them up to God for forgiveness and cry out to Him for help.  And God listens to our prayers and begins to help us purify our motivations.  As long as we live on a fallen world, our actions will always be tainted with selfishness, but hopefully as we grow in faith, that taint becomes less and less.  Our motivations become more and more pure.

Are you talking with God about your motivations?   Can you pray this prayer to God:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. -Psalm 139:23