Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Love Suffers Long
I love lists in Scripture, though they are often quite hard for me to memorize (Ga 5:16-26 comes to mind). I love them because they are simultaneously both rich and succinct. Needless to say the Spirit of God chooses His words very carefully, and each inspired list is comprised of precisely the thoughts and concepts God intends to convey. Here we are presented in almost PowerPoint format a comprehensive definition of love, that which we have come to call agape love, after the Greek word which is used.
Firstly, in English, I can love lists, love my children, love peanut butter and love God, all with the same word. Not so in Ancient Greek. In that language I would use different words that would more accurately reflect the variety and intensity of the emotion involved. Of the six Greek words I am aware of, the one here, agape, is by far the most noble, the most pure, the most comprehensive, and the most other-centered word for love ever invented. It is the kind of love that God has for the fallen world. It is the kind of love that drove Jesus to the Cross. It is the kind of love that purchased our redemption.
And the first characteristic of agape is long-suffering. One of the only two components of this list that are expressed in the positive, what love DOES and IS, versus the rest describing what love DOES NOT and IS NOT.
I don't like the other modern translations here, some of which substitute "love is patient" for "love suffers long", and here's why. I can be patient oftentimes without suffering anything, except perhaps impending impatience. Long-suffering on the other hand, is far more profound than mere patience in this context. It is a guarantee that the bestower of agape love will still love, and not change the intensity or commitment of that love, despite the fact that pain, even agony may be involved in that loving. To render that as simple "patience", is like saying that the sun is "kinda hot".
Long-suffering is exactly what God's love toward us is. It has to be because we are the source of perhaps His greatest pain. We are the cause of His sending His beloved Son to live as a Man and die an excruciating death on the Cross so that we could live.
There was no reason for Him to do that except agape love. There was no way He could have done that except for agape love. So please, no more trivializing of that kind of love by describing it as merely patient. It is so much more.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His GREAT LOVE with which He LOVED us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is KIND; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Love is Kind
Kindness is the second of 16 agape love characteristics. Like long-suffering, kindness is expressed positively, as in love IS kind as opposed to love IS NOT unkind.
Sincere kindness is one of the most comforting things human beings can do and be to one another. This is not the superficial sort of kindness that is so prevalent in the world. You know, professional kindness, the interpersonal product certain people are paid to produce. That's not really comforting because there is nothing real but money or reputation or pride behind it. It's too brittle, and is too easily dispensed with when the thin veneer of civility gets ripped away by circumstances or strong emotions.
True kindness that transcends circumstances can ONLY come from agape love, because it is the kindness that is not dependent on anything else but itself. It, like agape love as a whole, is a firm decision of the will, not a byproduct of good digestion, momentary good-will, sufficient sleep, or a hundred other ephemeral things that can blow away like a dried leaf.
True kindness, like true long-suffering, is supernatural. We can only live this way through the free reign and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is, and should be, a supernatural byproduct of a new heart and a regenerated spirit in Christ. And make no mistake, this is what we Christians are expected to be. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. For the unregenerate, the best that can be achieved is that professional sort that is really nothing more than a facade that can be ripped away when the rains descend, the floods come and wind blows. The benchmark of this real kind of kindness, like this real kind of long-suffering, is most accurately measured when nobody else is looking.
The question then arises, how do we mere human beings live our lives in this non-professional, down-to-the-bone, sincere long-suffering and kindness. The two part answer is this: dependence and knowledge.
Dependence on the One who is the transcendent source of these characteristics. The One who perfectly demonstrated these very things in His life and ministry as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. The One whose long-suffering and kindness leads us to repentance. WE cannot be this way WITHOUT Christ. As I age, I find it easier to depend on things. Part of it is sheer repetition. I fully depend, for instance, on that other driver stopping at his red light so that my green light means something because it has happened that way so reliably in the past. And part of it is a growing sense of my own growing weakness. Go on a run with your athletic 16-year old daughter and you'll see what I mean. Try as I might, I cannot close the gap of speed, distance or years.
Knowledge is the other crucial ingredient in living and being this way. True knowledge that comes by revelation from God in His word, not the so-called wisdom and knowledge of this world. I spent most of my life steeped in worldly knowledge, immersed in it like a cucumber in vinegar, and the contrast between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom is like the contrast between dark and light, despair and hope, death and life.
The knowledge of WHAT we are supposed to be is revealed in Scripture by God in countless places, and depicted in diamond clarity by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. But it goes beyond that, because in addition to the WHAT, that same divine, authoritative source of knowledge tells us HOW to be that way. The key: surround and surrender. Surround yourself in the Word of God. His truth is sufficient for all things pertaining to life and godliness. Then surrender to His revealed will for you, which is to be conformed into the image of His Son.
Of course, if you don't hold that the Bible is the Word of God, then none of this will be really helpful, or matter, or mean anything. You can dismiss it as just another magical incantation of one of those fundamentalist Christians. But if you know Christ and believe in His Word, then take this promise to heart, and follow peacefully rather than kicking and screaming to that destiny He has in store for you, knowing -
"…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; LOVE DOES NOT ENVY; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Envy and Love
Strong's defines the word translated envy in this verse this way: to burn with zeal; to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger; to desire earnestly, pursue.
In the sense that love does NOT do this, the focus here is on the obviously painful negative connotations of burning, heated, boil, hatred, anger. I KNOW people like this, and to the extent that they allow the intensity of their covetousness to reign, they are either scary or mean or vindictive or unpleasant or annoying. Given the depth and volume of this word, envy, I can well understand why it, and agape love, are mutually exclusive. Both are comprehensive and all-consuming. Both fill the available real estate of human will and emotion. To have one means there is no room to have the other.
Agape love does not envy because this kind of love focuses not on self, but on other. Instead of envying or coveting something someone else has but you don't, there is joy and rejoicing on their behalf.
Frankly, I experience this most clearly with my daughters. They have youth and vitality and a view of life unfettered by decades of sin and of living without Christ. They radiate hope. They have their entire lives ahead of them while mine is more that statistically half over. And I honestly rejoice that they are the recipients of God's gracious goodness, and Lord willing, their lives will be more fruitful, joyful, meaningful, and godly than my own. I thank God for this.
On the other hand, I find that I do not love, and therefore have room, to envy certain other people. Especially those who seem to have unlimited time and resources to enjoy those things that I myself enjoy. Health, wealth, strength, a different past, you name it. I can, if I surrender to my flesh, drown in such envy. Drowning is never, ever pleasant, particularly in the initial desperate reflexive phases where nothing is more important than taking that next breath of air. Where every other priority or knowledge or perspective is subsumed in a burning, boiling, desire for that thing which I do not have. Everything else blurs into triviality and insignificance. In the case of physically being unable to breathe, the adrenalin-soaked horror and desperation serves a survival purpose.
Perhaps it is somewhat similar with the initial deafening stages of unrestrained envy. Perhaps it is meant to serve as an irresistible impulse to rise above the suffocating covetousness into the pure life-sustaining air of thankfulness to God. But the difference is that, while it is impossible to live in a state of drowning, one can learn to survive immersed in envy. It is a horrible way to live, because it is a life devoid of room for anything else.
In describing these characteristics of agape love, the Apostle Paul provides not only divinely inspired revelation but a dire warning, as well. To envy is to burn. I believe it is a precursor, a faint shadow, of the everlasting torment of Hell.
The antidote, as always, is Christ…
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; LOVES DOES NOT PARADE ITSELF, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Parades
"I love a good parade." I don't know when or where I first heard that, but it was years ago and far away, and the TV was probably Black & White.
I have NEVER liked parades. They are LOUD and BORING, and you have to stand up and WAIT for something even remotely exciting. And the jostling, annoying crowd is always pushing and positioning itself for a better view, which never comes and is never worth it even if by some bizarre happenstance it does.
Parades are the epitome of self-promotion. "Look at us, all loud and blary and costumed in ridiculousness! Here we are! Come see!"
Thankfully, agape love and self-parading are mutually exclusive. True godly love NEVER draws attention to itself. It just IS, like rock solid earth under your feet; there and sure.
In this world, however, self-promotion itself is touted as a necessary survival skill. "Branding is key," we are told by the worldly gurus of success. Publicity, no matter what sphere it is aimed at is good. Publicity, even BAD publicity is better than obscurity. I'm not convinced this is true even in commerce or entertainment, but I KNOW it is dead wrong in the realm of relationships.
I have seen the ruinous consequences of relationships comprised of self-seeking. It ALWAYS involves some kind of ongoing betrayal of trust. A mother, for instance, who "loves" her children only to the extent that they serve her needs or make her look good or keep her from feeling alone. The children become emotionally enslaved, with the mother as queen and tyrant, the children as serfs, always striving to please her majesty or face exile or banishment. Horrible.
I have seen life-long relationships blown apart because one or the other partner no longer feels sufficiently worshipped. It is tragic and painful to behold, like a parade inevitably, unstoppably, walking off the edge of a cliff, with the spectators standing in dumbstruck surprise.
Marching bands of self-promotion are antithetical to the kind of love described in this passage. And someone who practices agape love does not parade him or herself in any way, shape or form. Agape love always puts the other first. Always. Pride or dignity or reputation does not matter in the slightest. Keeping score does not matter. Being on top does not matter. Winning does not matter. The ONLY thing that matters is the good of the object of that agape love.
Jesus exemplifies this in so many ways. Being God, He lowered Himself to become a Man, a poor bondservant with no power nor status nor prestige. He washed the feet of His disciples, a task reserved for the lowliest household servant. Oftentimes He healed and purposely drew no attention to Himself. He had no place to lay His head. He was born in a cave, and laid in a food trough. He partnered with sinners and foolish men, and eschewed anything that the world thought of value.
And He loved so much that He gave His life as a ransom for others.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, IS NOT PUFFED UP; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Pride
Most uncooked things that puff up are bad. This has been true for ages, and throughout history puffing is a precursor to putrescence. Decomposing bodies puff just before they burst. It's a rule.
Prideful love is an oxymoron of sorts, like dry wetness, or brilliant darkness, or clear mud, but it's possible to experience prideful love. In fact, it happens all the time among humans. The most glaring symptom is the uneven couple, also called loving down, or pity love. One of the pair is (or believes him/herself to be) better looking or smarter or more powerful or more moral or more spiritual or more whatever, as long as the "whatever" is something deemed valuable. It happens among and within families, too, biological as well as church families, social circles, work cadres, you name it. Wherever humans relate there be pride. It's a rule. And just as in the physical world, pride is a precursor to ugly things.
The thing about pride and true agape love is that they cannot coexist. In the context of this verse, I believe Paul is referring to someone who thinks from the human standpoint that the mere fact that he or she bestows love is something to be proud of, and that's ridiculous. Secondarily, the apostle may also be describing someone who believes that the mere fact of their loving someone elevates the value of that someone, which is equally ridiculous. These are preposterous delusions for one simple reason, agape love is not possible without the Spirit of God pouring out His love in our hearts, and what is ours by gifting can never be something about which we can boast, or feel proud. And by its very nature, God's love is without pride. It is the essence of humility.
Love that is puffed up is not love of the other at all. It is love of self. We humans excel at self-love, despite popular wisdom to the contrary. We do not lack self-esteem, we are filled with it to the point of bursting (see first sentence). Everything we do in our natural state is tainted, infected really, with pride. And like a red and swollen lesion, unchecked and untreated, soon that site of infection can spread and ultimately kill.
As always, the remedy is Jesus, knowing of Him and knowing Him. He is the perfect example of love without pride, the love that nurtures and restores, that brings to bear all goodness and no darkness at all. The love that sacrifices everything, including pride, for the good of the loved.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (John 13:1-5, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Shut Up!
The root word translated "rudely" here means deformed, indecent, unseemly; conduct unbecoming, well, anyone.
Deformed, indecent, and unseemly conduct has no place in agape love. Neither rudeness nor crudeness is loving.
As a loving, spiritual and Christian man, I am NEVER rude, and just Shut Up! if you think otherwise. And stop scraping your spoon on that bowl. I can't THINK! How do expect me to concentrate and write this devotional if everyone is being so DISRUPTIVE and INCONSIDERATE!
Don't you just hate it when other people are rude! It drives me up a wall and makes me feel superior simultaneously. "Were they fetched up in a barn?" my father would say, which was ironic because based on the stories he told of his childhood, he pretty much spent his formative years in a barn.
I know being rude is wrong, but it is so easy. It's one of the easiest sins around. And it's satisfying.
I am sighing now because one of the most obvious, most readily recognizable proofs that I am failing the tests of agape love is being rude. And successful rudeness relies on failing all the other hallmarks of love in this verse, as well. In fact, rudeness is utterly dependent on being impatient, unkind, feeling entitled, being the most important, and putting oneself first. Without those bedrock components serving as a foundation layer, rudeness collapses on itself like a balloon whose air has suddenly been let out.
And make no mistake, it is PRIVATE rudeness that is the true signpost. Being polite in public is a piece of cake, especially when you realize the potential for unintended consequences, like the driver in front of you stopping the car, getting out and walking toward you with a tire iron in his thigh-sized arm. Domestic rudeness is safe and comfortable in comparison. I find that most cowards are publicly polite while privately rude.
And don't think it stops at actions. Don't think you've accomplished much by NOT actually saying something, or being moderately effective at keeping that look of contempt and irritation off your face. Or by saying polite words that float on wrong feelings. God is not mocked and was not born yesterday. Thoughts and attitudes can and will be held against you.
The only way to combat rudeness is to be thankful. To live your life as if every moment were your last. To remember all that has been forgiven you, and then to fall on your face in humility and shame for thinking that you deserve anything but death.
The diametric opposite of rudeness is not politeness. It is graciousness.
And once more, Jesus is THE example we are given to emulate.
Being reviled, He blessed. Being tortured and humiliated and crucified, He forgave.
Hold your own behavior up against His and weep at your unbridled selfishness and offense.
Then maybe, just maybe, graciousness will seep into your heart and wash away that rudeness.
…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT, (1 Peter 1:14, 15, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Seekers
There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who divide people into two groups, and those who don't. No, seriously. In certain Biblical contexts, there ARE only two kinds of people in the world, and these two groups are described variously as Children of God versus Children of the Devil, Children of Light versus Sons of Disobedience, Lovers of God versus Lovers of Themselves, and God-seekers versus Self-seekers.
It is not that God-seekers hate themselves, but it is that unrepentant Self-seekers hate God and cannot love. There is a war going on, ancient and bloody, with the stakes being the highest in the Universe: eternal life versus eternal death and torment. This war takes on many guises, and the most prevalent these days reveals itself as a War of Worship. Humans who worship God versus Humans who worship themselves. In technical terms, Theists versus Humanists.
The propaganda surrounding this current battle is interesting and diabolical in its deceptiveness, It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but not so in this conflict. On the contrary, it is the conquest or defeat of truth that is the very essence of the battle. Know this: there cannot be any love without truth, simply because love based on lies is a betrayal from start to finish.
Humanists seek to worship themselves. They couch this blatant self-worship as regard for Mankind as a whole, but it is not. It is a childish ploy to hate God so that they can seek and worship Self. Remove God and Self is on the throne. All external restrictions melt away, and what remains is what is right or wrong in the Humanist's own eyes. The freedom to do, say or think whatever FEELS correct is the goal, and it is achieved through a determined, gritted-teeth, breath-holding, foot-stamping denial of objective reality in favor of subjective reality.
Humanists cannot practice agape love because they deny its source. They can only practice self-love, and clothe it as nobly and fashionably as possible so the selfishness that it really is is covered up in layers of presentability. True agape love is raw, and naked, and sacrificial and others-centered. It is portrayed popularly as foolishness, or tragedy, or delusion, or too good to be true. What it really is, God's love, can never, ever be acknowledged else the whole inelegant edifice of Humanism comes crashing down in the mud puddle of its origin.
The epitome of self-worship is self-seeking. It is the ultimate "what's in it for me" equation that fuels every frustrating and evil thing that occurs in human history from child sacrifice to unemployment. Self-seeking is the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest that justifies anything in the name of expedience. Self-seeking is what is wrong in this world.
A practitioner of true agape love cannot seek his or her own because the real fire at the center of the Universe, Christ's love for the Father and for us, operates in a way destined to bring about the restoration of all things, not through self-seeking but through self-sacrifice.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, IS NOT PROVOKED, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Provocation
The root word translated "provoked" means to sharpen, as with a blade, to keep it ready for use, so that it cuts easily and handily.
Oh man, do I know people like that, always looking and eager to slice and dice the opposition at the slightest perceived offense.
Most drunks are easily provoked, as are those who are insecure, or not being worshipped sufficiently, or those who feel a deep, abiding hatred for someone or something. Frustrated entitlement is also a catalyst that sets off those sharp, bristly individuals, who at bottom are really nothing more than spoiled brats who have never grown up, or been told no enough times to understand what it means.
Agape love looks provocation in the eye and says you have no power over me. I choose not to take offense, not because of weakness, but because of strength, and because my rights are NOT more important than your well-being.
It is so EASY to be provoked and act on it today in our modern info-saturated society. We have venting networks all around us, available for spewing our venom into cyber space at the speed of light. And we can remain safely anonymous or at least safely far enough away from our targets that prudence, restraint and better judgment are three common casualties.
But that is not the agape way. Those who claim Christ as Lord and Savior are to behave differently. Radically differently. Paul says it this way in another place: "And we labor, working with our own hands. Being REVILED, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;" (1 Corinthians 4:12, NKJV).
And Peter confirms this, pointing to Christ:
"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was REVILED, did NOT REVILE in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (1 Peter 2:21-23, NKJV).
If anyone could have reacted effectively to provocation, replying in kind, it was Jesus, who had all power and wisdom. But instead, through Isaiah, He prophesied "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6, NKJV).
In fact, Isaiah goes on to predict about Jesus, "Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;" (Isaiah 52:14, NKJV).
God does not just command us how to be, but sent His Son to show us how to be, and gives us His Spirit to empower us how to be.
Living life as He did, loving as He did, changes everything.
Try it.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, THINKS NO EVIL; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Evil Thoughts
One of the things remarkable about the Apostle Paul's divinely inspired letters is their succinctness. Lots of meaning can be packed into a few words, and a profoundly complicated issue, at least from the human perspective, can be comprehensively conveyed and summarized in as little as the three words currently in focus: THINKS NO EVIL.
Evil is kakos (kak-os') in Greek. It connotes the following: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be, of a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that is base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, and baneful. It's a rich and smelly word, even sounding like English slang for excrement.
In contrast, agape love is so transforming that those immersed in it THINK only good stuff. Paul writes it this way in Philippians, "…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)".
Attempt this thought experiment right now; right this instant, DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT! Did you succeed? Liar!
Our fallen minds are so quick to be influenced by whatever stimuli is around us that we often go off in some profane mental direction reflexively, without volitional control. What we hear or see in this evil world often invokes the same evil within us, at least in our thinking. That is why the New Testament exhorts us to meditate on those things which are of above, as opposed to earthly things, and to take our thoughts captive. Incidentally, the first mention of thoughts in Scripture is Genesis 6:5, and it lays the foundation for most of what the Bible goes on to say about human thinking: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5, NKJV).
Here are some more thoughtful indictments of human thought, in case you might THINK differently about THINKING:
Ps 10:4* The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Ps 94:11* The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Isa 59:7* Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Isa 65:2* I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.
Mt 15:19* “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Ro 1:21* because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Heb 4:12* For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jas 2:4* have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Sin is conceived in the mind and brought forth in the will. That is why God has so much to say about controlling our thoughts, not because he wants to rob us of joy or freedom, but to prevent us from pain and heartache. You are what you think. Not the useful kind of informational, purely objective, rational thinking that advances scientific knowledge and allows for things like logic and practicality, and enables cures and moon landings and such. But the kind of thinking that we do most, about ourselves and how we feel and what we don't have or what has been done to us.
Agape love knows nothing about that latter kind of dreary and deadening thinking. Agape love does not think evil. It invents no evil, attributes no evil, and condones no evil. There is no room in a heart and mind immersed in that kind of love for such evil. Agape love is like brilliant unfettered sunlight that instantly and comprehensively banishes all darkness. Evil and that kind of love cannot coexist.
Think about it.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; DOES NOT REJOICE IN INIQUITY, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Bad Joy
This one may be tougher than you might think.
Those of us who remember the events of 9/11 probably also remember scenes broadcast on the networks and cable television of various groups in the Middle East and elsewhere celebrating the fact that the Great Satan (the U.S.) had been successfully attacked. There literally was JOY in the streets, despite the tragedy and loss of life, and for some, precisely because of the death and destruction. This is a pretty straightforward and obvious example of "rejoicing in inequity". Whatever your fundamental view of that day, clearly, a murderous surprise attack against noncombatants solely for the purpose of instilling terror cannot be seen as something good or honorable.
In fact, 9/11 is the epitome of what the word iniquity means, namely a "deed violating law and justice." No victim of those events, except the perpetrators, were directly involved in anything that warranted their lives being taken. There was no moral or legal or spiritual justification, and yet, some around the world were ecstatic.
Those who claim to love and know God cannot rejoice in the evil of 9/11, but that's not the hard part. The difficulty lies in things far more subtle and easier to hide, like when something happens to someone who has offended you, or criticized you or not treated you with the regard and worship to which you feel entitled. Agape love views inequity always with grief and sorrow, never ever even a hint of even super-secret delight. And, if that were not hard enough, the other side of not rejoicing in inequity is more subtle still, because it involves not even entertaining the desire for something unrighteous.
It can be boiled down to this simple axiom: agape love insists that God is first, the object of my love is second, and my wants, desires, sensibilities, and rights are a distant third.
Like all the other 16 aspects of perfect love in this passage, this selfless, self-sacrificing is humanly impossible for more than a nanosecond or two. The truth is that we would not have envisioned such a standard if God did not reveal it in His Word, and Jesus did not perfectly example it in His life and death. And although it is impossible in our natural state, it is still a command. We are to agape one another it says in John 13, as Jesus loved us. It is the hallmark of being His disciple. And we are to do this as He did. When reviled He did not revile in return. When hated without a cause, He loved. When savagely tortured and crucified, He forgave.
Fortunately, what is beyond our ability to accomplish naturally, He promises to empower us to achieve. Not by might nor by power but by His Spirit within us. If we surrender our self-will and submit to His perfect sovereign will, we can love in this way. I think that moving mountains is a piece of cake in comparison to the true divine softening of a human heart.
To love like He loves, is to become more like He is. It is why we continue to live in this world.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but REJOICES IN THE TRUTH; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Chameleon Christians
Back in ancient history, before certain exotic reptilian pets became illegal or so regulated that you needed a background check to buy one, my one older cousin used to bring me those little turtles that supposedly give you Salmonella and/or little Chameleons lizards. Both came in those plastic terrariums with built-in ramps, no cover, and a small artificial palm tree in the center, which I guess served to remind the lackluster inhabitants of the tropical paradise of their origin. I think she worked for Kresges or Woolworths or one of those other 5¢ and 10¢ stores and got the critters for free. Or maybe stole them.
The Chameleons were interesting in that they were designed to blend into their surrounding environment. I would pick up the languishing reptile and place it alternately on a green leaf or brown stick and watch it's pigmentation change. Within a week, "Chamy", or whatever other clever name I came up with would be dead, and I'd await the next installment.
I know some professing Christians like that; they languish and blend in, and eventually, I think, become stiff, lifeless, and unloving, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2Ti 3:5). And whatever else they miss out on, they cannot obtain the full benefit of knowing and believing and REJOICING in the truth. They're too busy blending in with their surroundings and feeling prideful because of it. If among believers, they're all "Jesus this" and "Jesus that", and "praising God" and "praying in the Spirit" (all good things if done with a sincere heart and without regard to eye-service and men-pleasing, but just creepy when not), and when among the world, their jargon, and more importantly, their mindset, changes radically. Their Chameleon-like behavior is typically accompanied by a swollen spiritual hubris, perhaps because they blend in so well, or because they feel they're complying with the Apostle Paul's example of becoming all things to all people (1Co 9:22). But what do I know? I'm just a vile sinner saved by faith through grace, obtaining eternal life by the skin of my teeth, not because of anything I've done or could ever do, but because of what the Son of God did for me.
And that, by the way, is one component of the truth that I rejoice in the most: that I, a worm and no man, was raised up out the miry clay, under the sentence of death to be seated in the Heavenly places with Christ forever. I did nothing to earn that, and that's good news, because I COULD do nothing to earn such an unimaginable destiny. It had to be a gift of God, and not of any work that I could perform. I am so incapable of saving myself, that unless God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, it would be better if I were never conceived or born. I rejoice in the truth of God's love for me, proven throughout all eternity by Him sending His Son to pay for me the price of my sin. When I forget that love, I look at the Cross, and it serves as a radiant beacon of truth that I can hold onto with all that I'm worth (which is nothing without Christ, but everything with Him).
Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth is magnificent, inconceivable, liberating, heroic, and mind-bogglingly important. It is what saves, and heals, and gives hope and meaning. It is God's agape love poured out on a rebellious creation, poured out lavishly, unashamedly, overflowingly, as rivers of living water.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because it obliterates the lies of this world and present system, and the delusions of the fallen human mind.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because it knows the truth of who God is and what He has done and will do for those who love Him and are called according to his purposes.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth of God is THE only hope, and that that truth and hope are everlasting.
Chameleon Christians live a life of stress, depression, uncertainty, discontent and bitterness. They cannot rejoice in the truth, because, like the lizard's skin pigmentation, their truth changes with their surroundings. It is a house built on sand.
Those children of God who are immersed in agape love know that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That His mercies are new every morning, and endure forever. They know that He loves in a way that surpasses our finite understanding, and that nothing can separate us from that love.
Agape love rejoices in the truth in an eternal celebration of God's kindness and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because that truth is extended to all as a free gift. All we need do is receive it in repentance and faith.
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; BEARS ALL THINGS, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Bearing All
It has been accurately noted by people way smarter than me that true Christianity is rife with paradoxes, at least from the worldly perspective.
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:25, NKJV).
...“If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35, NKJV).
“Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:4, NKJV).
“...he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." (Luke 22:26, NKJV).
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11, NKJV).
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10, NKJV)
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…" (James 1:2, NKJV).
I don't know how many times in my life I've said something like, "I can't take it anymore!" or "I can't bear it!" or "I'm fed up!" or "I've had enough!" It's funny though, I don't believe I've ever said that about something pleasant or good, but only about pain or inconvenience or grief or tedium. And in those declarations of intolerance I am also confessing that what is motivating me at that moment is NOT agape love, but self-love, which is the opposite.
Although it is impossible in and of ourselves to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of Christ's love, we can nevertheless know the unknowable (yet another paradox) by His Spirit within us (Eph 3:18,19). It makes sense when you think about it, because there are plenty of other impossible things He empowers us to accomplish as His children. It is His gifting alone that enables us to know and come to God, have faith, be saved forever, endure, persevere, discern truth, comprehend doctrine, speak boldly, supply comfort, sin less, desire righteousness, seek His counsel, have fellowship with Him, live and move and have our being. If our moment-by-moment waking existence was fully surrendered to that empowerment our lives would be very different, our impact on others profound, and our witness indomitably powerful.
By telling us that agape love BEARS ALL THINGS, Paul is not only encapsulating all those apparent paradoxes in one succinct statement, but he is also giving us insight into three additional implications of this kind of love.
The first is that love DESIRES to bear all things, not out of a sense of martyrdom or masochism, but on BEHALF of the beloved and for the GOOD of the beloved. Whatever offense, or betrayal, or doubt, or apathy, or rebellion, or disrespect, or anything else that the beloved causes or does is borne by the lover because that is what true love does. It is its essential nature. That is why God Himself IS love.
Secondly, this bearing also comes into play in "bearing one another's burdens", in coming alongside in support and nurture. True agape love is the very ground beneath the feet of the beloved. It is the hedge of protection and the arm of redemption no matter what the cost. It is the unfailing loyalty and unrelenting trustworthiness that forms the foundation of the love relationship. Without it, nothing can last.
And finally, agape love BEARS ALL THINGS because to do otherwise is to abandon, to break that which should never be broken, and to make conditional that which should be unconditional. The ultimate source of this kind of love, after all, is the very heart of God. As it is said, we love because He first loved us.
Perhaps this desire to bear all is the single distinctive of agape love in this passage that points us most directly to the Cross of Christ, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness..." (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV). "…who for the joy that was set before Him (our redemption and everlasting life) endured the cross, despising the shame…" (Heb 12:2).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
We're not in Kansas Anymore
Before I became a Christian, I did not believe all things, but in retrospect, I believed almost anything, however insane or stupid or evil, as long as it fit in with my world view, which was basically, me. Don't get me wrong. I THOUGHT I was rational and sensible, even scientific, in my approach to truth, but what was really happening was my constitutional inability to know the truth was showing, like toilet paper on my face after I cut myself shaving.
The truth of God is spiritually discerned. It is very much like a door opening into a room you guessed was near, but couldn't somehow enter. Or like blinders falling off your eyes, or finally getting a lens prescription that enabled you to see what was really, really going on in the Universe. Before Christ, I was convinced I knew what was behind all the important stuff, and I had more than a little contempt for those rubes of believed something useless like the Bible. Crackpots. Imbeciles. Wishful-thinking idiots.
I have a lot of empathy for people who think like that about me now, and have done for the last 15 years. Empathy, but not sympathy. I UNDERSTAND their attitude and know it be as despicable as mine was back then. I know what motivates it, too, and it isn't pretty. My hope and prayer for those misguided intellects is that God would transform their thinking by doing whatever it takes. For me it took a pronounced, chronic, quiet hopelessness that I attempted to drown or drug or short-circuit in any number of increasingly ineffective ways. Only when I came to the end of my own stubborn, prideful, ridiculous delusions of self-importance could I throw up my trembling hands in surrender to the One who is the source of all truth, goodness, love and justice. That defeat was a cause for eternal celebration, for in losing all that I counted as profit, I lost darkness and despair and gained Christ, "and the power of His resurrection…".
Agape love is NOT gullible. It doesn't just believe ANYTHING, that's what Fallen human beings do so poorly and conveniently, picking and choosing what to believe based on the needs of the moment. Instead, agape love believes wholly, irrevocably, unreservedly all TRUTH. And because agape love comes only through God, the author of truth, immersion in agape love opens the human heart and mind to what is really, really true.
Before Christ, I held all kinds of idiotic or evil things to be true: babies in the womb weren't people; sin is a myth; Hell is for idiots (well, I kind of still believe that but in a completely different way); life is by chance; Heaven doesn't exist; humans rule; I am in control. I KNOW better now. My eyes have been opened to the truth by the Spirit of God and I have been made free by that truth.
I know people who are going through painful trials, unimaginable heart-ache, massively uncertain futures, at least in this life. But because these same people believe the TRUTH, they have hope and peace that goes beyond merely human understanding. And they are able to face these things BELIEVING the truth, and that provides a strength and endurance that is well, supernatural.
One other thing, the believing in focus here is not the kind of grit-your-teeth or click-your-ruby-red-slippers kind of belief. It is NOT belief in the face of evidence to the contrary. In short, it is NOT the wishful-thinking belief that those who do not know, or who reject Christ, ironically live under. It is belief that first and foremost is a gift a God, and secondly, is founded upon the evidence of changed lives, the empty tomb, and the inarguable testimony of a regenerated heart. It is belief that comes when the eyes of faith see the God of love.
Give me that over the world any day.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, HOPES ALL THINGS, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
--
If Wishes Were Fishes We'd All Cast Nets
Monk, the genius TV detective emotionally devastated after the bombing death of his wife, is known for several iconic sayings. One of them is, "I hate hope."
The reason, of course, is because hope often disappoints. As a friend of mine recently posted, "the best way to avoid disappointment is to not expect anything from anyone." It makes sense from a human perspective. The more you hope, the more profound the disappointment potential. And sometimes unfulfilled hope is worse than hopelessness.
So then, why does Paul in this passage describe agape love as something that "hopes all things"? Is it because he wants us to become immune to disappointment? Or maybe he just thinks that anticipatory disappointment is good for the soul? If hope is painful, then why hope?
To understand this fully, a distinction has to be made between Biblical hope and the everyday kind of hope that is pretty much synonymous with wishing. I can hope that it doesn't rain today, but because that hope is not based on any sort of meaningful guarantee, I'm really just wishing it doesn't rain. In that sense then, that brand of hope is fraught with danger. Best to just stick your head out the door and see how wet it gets rather than waste any energy on the wish.
Biblical hope is not about wishing at all. Instead, it is a sure and certain expectation of something that has not yet occurred, and for which there is no equivalent empirical test. I can't pop my head into eternity and see what the weather is like. I can nonetheless have that hope without the slightest danger of disappointment because the source of that hope is the unequivocal promise of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Being who has taken incomprehensibly extreme measures to demonstrate His love for me. It is hope not based on whimsy or pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by wishful thinking. It is hope based on the solemn oath sworn by He who is the author and maintainer of all realms of existence. It is hope based on an everlasting covenant signed in blood on a hill in Judea two millennia ago. That is the hope agape love is focused upon. That is the hope that is intended to sustain us in this life no matter what other disappointments have or will occur.
To embrace that hope requires trust in its guarantor. To obtain that trust requires time spent in fellowship. To begin that fellowship requires surrender of self-reliance and self-will. Monk hates hope, because the only source of hope he knows is in this life, and being a genius, he understands how frail and fickle such hope is. Agape love encourages hope because its source is the faithfulness of God. There is no comparison between the two.
Hope is important. So important that it is mentioned in the New Testament no less that 61 times. Each instance is instructive, but I will leave you with just this one:
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ENDURES ALL THINGS. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
*
Loving Endurance
Who likes to be told to endure? Not me. The very thought has all kinds of negative connotations. I don't recall ever being asked to endure something pleasurable or good, but only painful, stressful, effortful or heartbreaking.
Yet, if we look carefully in Scripture there are plenty of good things about God (there can be no other kind) that endure. His love. His mercy. His faithfulness. His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So endurance in and of itself is clearly not always negative. And most of the time, the RESULT of endurance IS good.
By describing agape love as that which ENDURES ALL THINGS, I believe the Apostle Paul has both aspects of endurance in mind. Not just the wholly good flavor, but also the not-good kind that ultimately leads to good.
The absolute best example, of course, is the inventor of love Himself, Jesus. Look at what Hebrews 12 tells us:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2, NKJV).
These two verses encompass both the purely enjoyable kind of endurance ("…Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him…"), and the other kind that RESULTS in something wonderful ("…run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us…" and "…ENDURED the cross, despising the shame…").
We are to run the often painful, stressful, effortful and heartbreaking race of this life with ENDURANCE, looking unto Jesus who, out of agape love for us and the Father, and for the everlasting JOY of our eternal life with Him, ENDURED the cross in our place.
That's what true love does. it looks sacrificially toward the ultimate good of the beloved, and endures WHATEVER IT TAKES to bestow or provide that goodness.
When does that kind of love say "enough!"? It simply doesn't. That's why Jesus instructed His disciples: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV).
Agape love endures whatever it must, in order to obtain whatever it can, for the sake of the beloved. That's what Jesus did. That's what we, His followers and (amazingly) friends are to do as well.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED THEM TO THE END. (John 13:1, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
*
Epic Success
Here's the thing: God loves me more even than I love myself, and that's saying something. He thinks of me more than I think about myself, and that's equally phenomenal because basically the only time I'm not thinking about me is when I'm asleep (He never slumbers or sleeps), or when I'm thinking that you might be thinking about me. His thoughts toward me are uncountable and unfathomable and are incomprehensibly good.
He is obsessed with me, inscribing my name on the palm of His hand. He watches every move I make and knows everything I say before the words enter my head or leave my mouth. He knit me together in my mother's womb and knows the number of my days. He is with me rising up and lying down and when I go in and come out. His love is everlasting. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He sacrificed His own magnificent Son that I might live with Him forever, and He loves me not because of me, which would be shaky ground indeed, but because of Him. God IS love.
The other thing is this: I know this about God because He has taken great pains to write these truths down and have them painstakingly preserved over millennia, gifting me with the means (teachability and faith) to read and believe them in a massive love letter that describes Him and can transform me. It is because of who He is that I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.
This leads to the most important question in the Universe: Is God?
And He has ensured, through the evidence of His Creation and the revelation of His word, that the askers of this question are provided the answer. For he who comes to God must believe that He IS, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God's agape love is what powers existence. He did not need us but created us anyway, and did so in His image so that we could know Him and understand, in part at least, how great is His love for us. We do not deserve His love, but agape love can never be deserved, it can only be bestowed as a gift.
The point the Apostle Paul is making here in this last of 16 descriptive characteristics of agape is beyond mere human words or experience to convey. Of those three last words, LOVE NEVER FAILS, we have nothing really to compare to any of them except the last word, FAILS. We know failure and ending and the transitory nature of all things. We know that despite the most deep-seated desires of our heart for good things to last unchanging in this life, they just don't. They change. They end. Time destroys all things, eventually.
That's why our God, who is outside of time and the maker of time, has gone to such lengths to prove Himself to us. To let us know that existence in this realm of what we can see, hear, touch, and measure is not all there is. At one point, before the Fall, our ancestors knew this with the same certainty that we know death and taxes, but that knowledge was lost in the initial rebellion and remains lost in humanity's long war against God.
But God has not given us up for lost and Has not surrendered in His war to rescue us, because His love, the same love that propelled us into existence, NEVER FAILS. His unfailing love has provided us the only means of escape; His Son's death in our place.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, NKJV).
Love Suffers Long
I love lists in Scripture, though they are often quite hard for me to memorize (Ga 5:16-26 comes to mind). I love them because they are simultaneously both rich and succinct. Needless to say the Spirit of God chooses His words very carefully, and each inspired list is comprised of precisely the thoughts and concepts God intends to convey. Here we are presented in almost PowerPoint format a comprehensive definition of love, that which we have come to call agape love, after the Greek word which is used.
Firstly, in English, I can love lists, love my children, love peanut butter and love God, all with the same word. Not so in Ancient Greek. In that language I would use different words that would more accurately reflect the variety and intensity of the emotion involved. Of the six Greek words I am aware of, the one here, agape, is by far the most noble, the most pure, the most comprehensive, and the most other-centered word for love ever invented. It is the kind of love that God has for the fallen world. It is the kind of love that drove Jesus to the Cross. It is the kind of love that purchased our redemption.
And the first characteristic of agape is long-suffering. One of the only two components of this list that are expressed in the positive, what love DOES and IS, versus the rest describing what love DOES NOT and IS NOT.
I don't like the other modern translations here, some of which substitute "love is patient" for "love suffers long", and here's why. I can be patient oftentimes without suffering anything, except perhaps impending impatience. Long-suffering on the other hand, is far more profound than mere patience in this context. It is a guarantee that the bestower of agape love will still love, and not change the intensity or commitment of that love, despite the fact that pain, even agony may be involved in that loving. To render that as simple "patience", is like saying that the sun is "kinda hot".
Long-suffering is exactly what God's love toward us is. It has to be because we are the source of perhaps His greatest pain. We are the cause of His sending His beloved Son to live as a Man and die an excruciating death on the Cross so that we could live.
There was no reason for Him to do that except agape love. There was no way He could have done that except for agape love. So please, no more trivializing of that kind of love by describing it as merely patient. It is so much more.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His GREAT LOVE with which He LOVED us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is KIND; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Love is Kind
Kindness is the second of 16 agape love characteristics. Like long-suffering, kindness is expressed positively, as in love IS kind as opposed to love IS NOT unkind.
Sincere kindness is one of the most comforting things human beings can do and be to one another. This is not the superficial sort of kindness that is so prevalent in the world. You know, professional kindness, the interpersonal product certain people are paid to produce. That's not really comforting because there is nothing real but money or reputation or pride behind it. It's too brittle, and is too easily dispensed with when the thin veneer of civility gets ripped away by circumstances or strong emotions.
True kindness that transcends circumstances can ONLY come from agape love, because it is the kindness that is not dependent on anything else but itself. It, like agape love as a whole, is a firm decision of the will, not a byproduct of good digestion, momentary good-will, sufficient sleep, or a hundred other ephemeral things that can blow away like a dried leaf.
True kindness, like true long-suffering, is supernatural. We can only live this way through the free reign and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is, and should be, a supernatural byproduct of a new heart and a regenerated spirit in Christ. And make no mistake, this is what we Christians are expected to be. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. For the unregenerate, the best that can be achieved is that professional sort that is really nothing more than a facade that can be ripped away when the rains descend, the floods come and wind blows. The benchmark of this real kind of kindness, like this real kind of long-suffering, is most accurately measured when nobody else is looking.
The question then arises, how do we mere human beings live our lives in this non-professional, down-to-the-bone, sincere long-suffering and kindness. The two part answer is this: dependence and knowledge.
Dependence on the One who is the transcendent source of these characteristics. The One who perfectly demonstrated these very things in His life and ministry as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. The One whose long-suffering and kindness leads us to repentance. WE cannot be this way WITHOUT Christ. As I age, I find it easier to depend on things. Part of it is sheer repetition. I fully depend, for instance, on that other driver stopping at his red light so that my green light means something because it has happened that way so reliably in the past. And part of it is a growing sense of my own growing weakness. Go on a run with your athletic 16-year old daughter and you'll see what I mean. Try as I might, I cannot close the gap of speed, distance or years.
Knowledge is the other crucial ingredient in living and being this way. True knowledge that comes by revelation from God in His word, not the so-called wisdom and knowledge of this world. I spent most of my life steeped in worldly knowledge, immersed in it like a cucumber in vinegar, and the contrast between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom is like the contrast between dark and light, despair and hope, death and life.
The knowledge of WHAT we are supposed to be is revealed in Scripture by God in countless places, and depicted in diamond clarity by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. But it goes beyond that, because in addition to the WHAT, that same divine, authoritative source of knowledge tells us HOW to be that way. The key: surround and surrender. Surround yourself in the Word of God. His truth is sufficient for all things pertaining to life and godliness. Then surrender to His revealed will for you, which is to be conformed into the image of His Son.
Of course, if you don't hold that the Bible is the Word of God, then none of this will be really helpful, or matter, or mean anything. You can dismiss it as just another magical incantation of one of those fundamentalist Christians. But if you know Christ and believe in His Word, then take this promise to heart, and follow peacefully rather than kicking and screaming to that destiny He has in store for you, knowing -
"…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; LOVE DOES NOT ENVY; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Envy and Love
Strong's defines the word translated envy in this verse this way: to burn with zeal; to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger; to desire earnestly, pursue.
In the sense that love does NOT do this, the focus here is on the obviously painful negative connotations of burning, heated, boil, hatred, anger. I KNOW people like this, and to the extent that they allow the intensity of their covetousness to reign, they are either scary or mean or vindictive or unpleasant or annoying. Given the depth and volume of this word, envy, I can well understand why it, and agape love, are mutually exclusive. Both are comprehensive and all-consuming. Both fill the available real estate of human will and emotion. To have one means there is no room to have the other.
Agape love does not envy because this kind of love focuses not on self, but on other. Instead of envying or coveting something someone else has but you don't, there is joy and rejoicing on their behalf.
Frankly, I experience this most clearly with my daughters. They have youth and vitality and a view of life unfettered by decades of sin and of living without Christ. They radiate hope. They have their entire lives ahead of them while mine is more that statistically half over. And I honestly rejoice that they are the recipients of God's gracious goodness, and Lord willing, their lives will be more fruitful, joyful, meaningful, and godly than my own. I thank God for this.
On the other hand, I find that I do not love, and therefore have room, to envy certain other people. Especially those who seem to have unlimited time and resources to enjoy those things that I myself enjoy. Health, wealth, strength, a different past, you name it. I can, if I surrender to my flesh, drown in such envy. Drowning is never, ever pleasant, particularly in the initial desperate reflexive phases where nothing is more important than taking that next breath of air. Where every other priority or knowledge or perspective is subsumed in a burning, boiling, desire for that thing which I do not have. Everything else blurs into triviality and insignificance. In the case of physically being unable to breathe, the adrenalin-soaked horror and desperation serves a survival purpose.
Perhaps it is somewhat similar with the initial deafening stages of unrestrained envy. Perhaps it is meant to serve as an irresistible impulse to rise above the suffocating covetousness into the pure life-sustaining air of thankfulness to God. But the difference is that, while it is impossible to live in a state of drowning, one can learn to survive immersed in envy. It is a horrible way to live, because it is a life devoid of room for anything else.
In describing these characteristics of agape love, the Apostle Paul provides not only divinely inspired revelation but a dire warning, as well. To envy is to burn. I believe it is a precursor, a faint shadow, of the everlasting torment of Hell.
The antidote, as always, is Christ…
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; LOVES DOES NOT PARADE ITSELF, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Parades
"I love a good parade." I don't know when or where I first heard that, but it was years ago and far away, and the TV was probably Black & White.
I have NEVER liked parades. They are LOUD and BORING, and you have to stand up and WAIT for something even remotely exciting. And the jostling, annoying crowd is always pushing and positioning itself for a better view, which never comes and is never worth it even if by some bizarre happenstance it does.
Parades are the epitome of self-promotion. "Look at us, all loud and blary and costumed in ridiculousness! Here we are! Come see!"
Thankfully, agape love and self-parading are mutually exclusive. True godly love NEVER draws attention to itself. It just IS, like rock solid earth under your feet; there and sure.
In this world, however, self-promotion itself is touted as a necessary survival skill. "Branding is key," we are told by the worldly gurus of success. Publicity, no matter what sphere it is aimed at is good. Publicity, even BAD publicity is better than obscurity. I'm not convinced this is true even in commerce or entertainment, but I KNOW it is dead wrong in the realm of relationships.
I have seen the ruinous consequences of relationships comprised of self-seeking. It ALWAYS involves some kind of ongoing betrayal of trust. A mother, for instance, who "loves" her children only to the extent that they serve her needs or make her look good or keep her from feeling alone. The children become emotionally enslaved, with the mother as queen and tyrant, the children as serfs, always striving to please her majesty or face exile or banishment. Horrible.
I have seen life-long relationships blown apart because one or the other partner no longer feels sufficiently worshipped. It is tragic and painful to behold, like a parade inevitably, unstoppably, walking off the edge of a cliff, with the spectators standing in dumbstruck surprise.
Marching bands of self-promotion are antithetical to the kind of love described in this passage. And someone who practices agape love does not parade him or herself in any way, shape or form. Agape love always puts the other first. Always. Pride or dignity or reputation does not matter in the slightest. Keeping score does not matter. Being on top does not matter. Winning does not matter. The ONLY thing that matters is the good of the object of that agape love.
Jesus exemplifies this in so many ways. Being God, He lowered Himself to become a Man, a poor bondservant with no power nor status nor prestige. He washed the feet of His disciples, a task reserved for the lowliest household servant. Oftentimes He healed and purposely drew no attention to Himself. He had no place to lay His head. He was born in a cave, and laid in a food trough. He partnered with sinners and foolish men, and eschewed anything that the world thought of value.
And He loved so much that He gave His life as a ransom for others.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, IS NOT PUFFED UP; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Pride
Most uncooked things that puff up are bad. This has been true for ages, and throughout history puffing is a precursor to putrescence. Decomposing bodies puff just before they burst. It's a rule.
Prideful love is an oxymoron of sorts, like dry wetness, or brilliant darkness, or clear mud, but it's possible to experience prideful love. In fact, it happens all the time among humans. The most glaring symptom is the uneven couple, also called loving down, or pity love. One of the pair is (or believes him/herself to be) better looking or smarter or more powerful or more moral or more spiritual or more whatever, as long as the "whatever" is something deemed valuable. It happens among and within families, too, biological as well as church families, social circles, work cadres, you name it. Wherever humans relate there be pride. It's a rule. And just as in the physical world, pride is a precursor to ugly things.
The thing about pride and true agape love is that they cannot coexist. In the context of this verse, I believe Paul is referring to someone who thinks from the human standpoint that the mere fact that he or she bestows love is something to be proud of, and that's ridiculous. Secondarily, the apostle may also be describing someone who believes that the mere fact of their loving someone elevates the value of that someone, which is equally ridiculous. These are preposterous delusions for one simple reason, agape love is not possible without the Spirit of God pouring out His love in our hearts, and what is ours by gifting can never be something about which we can boast, or feel proud. And by its very nature, God's love is without pride. It is the essence of humility.
Love that is puffed up is not love of the other at all. It is love of self. We humans excel at self-love, despite popular wisdom to the contrary. We do not lack self-esteem, we are filled with it to the point of bursting (see first sentence). Everything we do in our natural state is tainted, infected really, with pride. And like a red and swollen lesion, unchecked and untreated, soon that site of infection can spread and ultimately kill.
As always, the remedy is Jesus, knowing of Him and knowing Him. He is the perfect example of love without pride, the love that nurtures and restores, that brings to bear all goodness and no darkness at all. The love that sacrifices everything, including pride, for the good of the loved.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (John 13:1-5, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; DOES NOT BEHAVE RUDELY, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Shut Up!
The root word translated "rudely" here means deformed, indecent, unseemly; conduct unbecoming, well, anyone.
Deformed, indecent, and unseemly conduct has no place in agape love. Neither rudeness nor crudeness is loving.
As a loving, spiritual and Christian man, I am NEVER rude, and just Shut Up! if you think otherwise. And stop scraping your spoon on that bowl. I can't THINK! How do expect me to concentrate and write this devotional if everyone is being so DISRUPTIVE and INCONSIDERATE!
Don't you just hate it when other people are rude! It drives me up a wall and makes me feel superior simultaneously. "Were they fetched up in a barn?" my father would say, which was ironic because based on the stories he told of his childhood, he pretty much spent his formative years in a barn.
I know being rude is wrong, but it is so easy. It's one of the easiest sins around. And it's satisfying.
I am sighing now because one of the most obvious, most readily recognizable proofs that I am failing the tests of agape love is being rude. And successful rudeness relies on failing all the other hallmarks of love in this verse, as well. In fact, rudeness is utterly dependent on being impatient, unkind, feeling entitled, being the most important, and putting oneself first. Without those bedrock components serving as a foundation layer, rudeness collapses on itself like a balloon whose air has suddenly been let out.
And make no mistake, it is PRIVATE rudeness that is the true signpost. Being polite in public is a piece of cake, especially when you realize the potential for unintended consequences, like the driver in front of you stopping the car, getting out and walking toward you with a tire iron in his thigh-sized arm. Domestic rudeness is safe and comfortable in comparison. I find that most cowards are publicly polite while privately rude.
And don't think it stops at actions. Don't think you've accomplished much by NOT actually saying something, or being moderately effective at keeping that look of contempt and irritation off your face. Or by saying polite words that float on wrong feelings. God is not mocked and was not born yesterday. Thoughts and attitudes can and will be held against you.
The only way to combat rudeness is to be thankful. To live your life as if every moment were your last. To remember all that has been forgiven you, and then to fall on your face in humility and shame for thinking that you deserve anything but death.
The diametric opposite of rudeness is not politeness. It is graciousness.
And once more, Jesus is THE example we are given to emulate.
Being reviled, He blessed. Being tortured and humiliated and crucified, He forgave.
Hold your own behavior up against His and weep at your unbridled selfishness and offense.
Then maybe, just maybe, graciousness will seep into your heart and wash away that rudeness.
…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT, (1 Peter 1:14, 15, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Seekers
There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who divide people into two groups, and those who don't. No, seriously. In certain Biblical contexts, there ARE only two kinds of people in the world, and these two groups are described variously as Children of God versus Children of the Devil, Children of Light versus Sons of Disobedience, Lovers of God versus Lovers of Themselves, and God-seekers versus Self-seekers.
It is not that God-seekers hate themselves, but it is that unrepentant Self-seekers hate God and cannot love. There is a war going on, ancient and bloody, with the stakes being the highest in the Universe: eternal life versus eternal death and torment. This war takes on many guises, and the most prevalent these days reveals itself as a War of Worship. Humans who worship God versus Humans who worship themselves. In technical terms, Theists versus Humanists.
The propaganda surrounding this current battle is interesting and diabolical in its deceptiveness, It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but not so in this conflict. On the contrary, it is the conquest or defeat of truth that is the very essence of the battle. Know this: there cannot be any love without truth, simply because love based on lies is a betrayal from start to finish.
Humanists seek to worship themselves. They couch this blatant self-worship as regard for Mankind as a whole, but it is not. It is a childish ploy to hate God so that they can seek and worship Self. Remove God and Self is on the throne. All external restrictions melt away, and what remains is what is right or wrong in the Humanist's own eyes. The freedom to do, say or think whatever FEELS correct is the goal, and it is achieved through a determined, gritted-teeth, breath-holding, foot-stamping denial of objective reality in favor of subjective reality.
Humanists cannot practice agape love because they deny its source. They can only practice self-love, and clothe it as nobly and fashionably as possible so the selfishness that it really is is covered up in layers of presentability. True agape love is raw, and naked, and sacrificial and others-centered. It is portrayed popularly as foolishness, or tragedy, or delusion, or too good to be true. What it really is, God's love, can never, ever be acknowledged else the whole inelegant edifice of Humanism comes crashing down in the mud puddle of its origin.
The epitome of self-worship is self-seeking. It is the ultimate "what's in it for me" equation that fuels every frustrating and evil thing that occurs in human history from child sacrifice to unemployment. Self-seeking is the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest that justifies anything in the name of expedience. Self-seeking is what is wrong in this world.
A practitioner of true agape love cannot seek his or her own because the real fire at the center of the Universe, Christ's love for the Father and for us, operates in a way destined to bring about the restoration of all things, not through self-seeking but through self-sacrifice.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, IS NOT PROVOKED, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Provocation
The root word translated "provoked" means to sharpen, as with a blade, to keep it ready for use, so that it cuts easily and handily.
Oh man, do I know people like that, always looking and eager to slice and dice the opposition at the slightest perceived offense.
Most drunks are easily provoked, as are those who are insecure, or not being worshipped sufficiently, or those who feel a deep, abiding hatred for someone or something. Frustrated entitlement is also a catalyst that sets off those sharp, bristly individuals, who at bottom are really nothing more than spoiled brats who have never grown up, or been told no enough times to understand what it means.
Agape love looks provocation in the eye and says you have no power over me. I choose not to take offense, not because of weakness, but because of strength, and because my rights are NOT more important than your well-being.
It is so EASY to be provoked and act on it today in our modern info-saturated society. We have venting networks all around us, available for spewing our venom into cyber space at the speed of light. And we can remain safely anonymous or at least safely far enough away from our targets that prudence, restraint and better judgment are three common casualties.
But that is not the agape way. Those who claim Christ as Lord and Savior are to behave differently. Radically differently. Paul says it this way in another place: "And we labor, working with our own hands. Being REVILED, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;" (1 Corinthians 4:12, NKJV).
And Peter confirms this, pointing to Christ:
"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was REVILED, did NOT REVILE in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (1 Peter 2:21-23, NKJV).
If anyone could have reacted effectively to provocation, replying in kind, it was Jesus, who had all power and wisdom. But instead, through Isaiah, He prophesied "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6, NKJV).
In fact, Isaiah goes on to predict about Jesus, "Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;" (Isaiah 52:14, NKJV).
God does not just command us how to be, but sent His Son to show us how to be, and gives us His Spirit to empower us how to be.
Living life as He did, loving as He did, changes everything.
Try it.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, THINKS NO EVIL; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Evil Thoughts
One of the things remarkable about the Apostle Paul's divinely inspired letters is their succinctness. Lots of meaning can be packed into a few words, and a profoundly complicated issue, at least from the human perspective, can be comprehensively conveyed and summarized in as little as the three words currently in focus: THINKS NO EVIL.
Evil is kakos (kak-os') in Greek. It connotes the following: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be, of a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that is base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, and baneful. It's a rich and smelly word, even sounding like English slang for excrement.
In contrast, agape love is so transforming that those immersed in it THINK only good stuff. Paul writes it this way in Philippians, "…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)".
Attempt this thought experiment right now; right this instant, DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT! Did you succeed? Liar!
Our fallen minds are so quick to be influenced by whatever stimuli is around us that we often go off in some profane mental direction reflexively, without volitional control. What we hear or see in this evil world often invokes the same evil within us, at least in our thinking. That is why the New Testament exhorts us to meditate on those things which are of above, as opposed to earthly things, and to take our thoughts captive. Incidentally, the first mention of thoughts in Scripture is Genesis 6:5, and it lays the foundation for most of what the Bible goes on to say about human thinking: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5, NKJV).
Here are some more thoughtful indictments of human thought, in case you might THINK differently about THINKING:
Ps 10:4* The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Ps 94:11* The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Isa 59:7* Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Isa 65:2* I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.
Mt 15:19* “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Ro 1:21* because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Heb 4:12* For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jas 2:4* have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Sin is conceived in the mind and brought forth in the will. That is why God has so much to say about controlling our thoughts, not because he wants to rob us of joy or freedom, but to prevent us from pain and heartache. You are what you think. Not the useful kind of informational, purely objective, rational thinking that advances scientific knowledge and allows for things like logic and practicality, and enables cures and moon landings and such. But the kind of thinking that we do most, about ourselves and how we feel and what we don't have or what has been done to us.
Agape love knows nothing about that latter kind of dreary and deadening thinking. Agape love does not think evil. It invents no evil, attributes no evil, and condones no evil. There is no room in a heart and mind immersed in that kind of love for such evil. Agape love is like brilliant unfettered sunlight that instantly and comprehensively banishes all darkness. Evil and that kind of love cannot coexist.
Think about it.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; DOES NOT REJOICE IN INIQUITY, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Bad Joy
This one may be tougher than you might think.
Those of us who remember the events of 9/11 probably also remember scenes broadcast on the networks and cable television of various groups in the Middle East and elsewhere celebrating the fact that the Great Satan (the U.S.) had been successfully attacked. There literally was JOY in the streets, despite the tragedy and loss of life, and for some, precisely because of the death and destruction. This is a pretty straightforward and obvious example of "rejoicing in inequity". Whatever your fundamental view of that day, clearly, a murderous surprise attack against noncombatants solely for the purpose of instilling terror cannot be seen as something good or honorable.
In fact, 9/11 is the epitome of what the word iniquity means, namely a "deed violating law and justice." No victim of those events, except the perpetrators, were directly involved in anything that warranted their lives being taken. There was no moral or legal or spiritual justification, and yet, some around the world were ecstatic.
Those who claim to love and know God cannot rejoice in the evil of 9/11, but that's not the hard part. The difficulty lies in things far more subtle and easier to hide, like when something happens to someone who has offended you, or criticized you or not treated you with the regard and worship to which you feel entitled. Agape love views inequity always with grief and sorrow, never ever even a hint of even super-secret delight. And, if that were not hard enough, the other side of not rejoicing in inequity is more subtle still, because it involves not even entertaining the desire for something unrighteous.
It can be boiled down to this simple axiom: agape love insists that God is first, the object of my love is second, and my wants, desires, sensibilities, and rights are a distant third.
Like all the other 16 aspects of perfect love in this passage, this selfless, self-sacrificing is humanly impossible for more than a nanosecond or two. The truth is that we would not have envisioned such a standard if God did not reveal it in His Word, and Jesus did not perfectly example it in His life and death. And although it is impossible in our natural state, it is still a command. We are to agape one another it says in John 13, as Jesus loved us. It is the hallmark of being His disciple. And we are to do this as He did. When reviled He did not revile in return. When hated without a cause, He loved. When savagely tortured and crucified, He forgave.
Fortunately, what is beyond our ability to accomplish naturally, He promises to empower us to achieve. Not by might nor by power but by His Spirit within us. If we surrender our self-will and submit to His perfect sovereign will, we can love in this way. I think that moving mountains is a piece of cake in comparison to the true divine softening of a human heart.
To love like He loves, is to become more like He is. It is why we continue to live in this world.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but REJOICES IN THE TRUTH; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Chameleon Christians
Back in ancient history, before certain exotic reptilian pets became illegal or so regulated that you needed a background check to buy one, my one older cousin used to bring me those little turtles that supposedly give you Salmonella and/or little Chameleons lizards. Both came in those plastic terrariums with built-in ramps, no cover, and a small artificial palm tree in the center, which I guess served to remind the lackluster inhabitants of the tropical paradise of their origin. I think she worked for Kresges or Woolworths or one of those other 5¢ and 10¢ stores and got the critters for free. Or maybe stole them.
The Chameleons were interesting in that they were designed to blend into their surrounding environment. I would pick up the languishing reptile and place it alternately on a green leaf or brown stick and watch it's pigmentation change. Within a week, "Chamy", or whatever other clever name I came up with would be dead, and I'd await the next installment.
I know some professing Christians like that; they languish and blend in, and eventually, I think, become stiff, lifeless, and unloving, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2Ti 3:5). And whatever else they miss out on, they cannot obtain the full benefit of knowing and believing and REJOICING in the truth. They're too busy blending in with their surroundings and feeling prideful because of it. If among believers, they're all "Jesus this" and "Jesus that", and "praising God" and "praying in the Spirit" (all good things if done with a sincere heart and without regard to eye-service and men-pleasing, but just creepy when not), and when among the world, their jargon, and more importantly, their mindset, changes radically. Their Chameleon-like behavior is typically accompanied by a swollen spiritual hubris, perhaps because they blend in so well, or because they feel they're complying with the Apostle Paul's example of becoming all things to all people (1Co 9:22). But what do I know? I'm just a vile sinner saved by faith through grace, obtaining eternal life by the skin of my teeth, not because of anything I've done or could ever do, but because of what the Son of God did for me.
And that, by the way, is one component of the truth that I rejoice in the most: that I, a worm and no man, was raised up out the miry clay, under the sentence of death to be seated in the Heavenly places with Christ forever. I did nothing to earn that, and that's good news, because I COULD do nothing to earn such an unimaginable destiny. It had to be a gift of God, and not of any work that I could perform. I am so incapable of saving myself, that unless God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, it would be better if I were never conceived or born. I rejoice in the truth of God's love for me, proven throughout all eternity by Him sending His Son to pay for me the price of my sin. When I forget that love, I look at the Cross, and it serves as a radiant beacon of truth that I can hold onto with all that I'm worth (which is nothing without Christ, but everything with Him).
Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth is magnificent, inconceivable, liberating, heroic, and mind-bogglingly important. It is what saves, and heals, and gives hope and meaning. It is God's agape love poured out on a rebellious creation, poured out lavishly, unashamedly, overflowingly, as rivers of living water.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because it obliterates the lies of this world and present system, and the delusions of the fallen human mind.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because it knows the truth of who God is and what He has done and will do for those who love Him and are called according to his purposes.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth of God is THE only hope, and that that truth and hope are everlasting.
Chameleon Christians live a life of stress, depression, uncertainty, discontent and bitterness. They cannot rejoice in the truth, because, like the lizard's skin pigmentation, their truth changes with their surroundings. It is a house built on sand.
Those children of God who are immersed in agape love know that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That His mercies are new every morning, and endure forever. They know that He loves in a way that surpasses our finite understanding, and that nothing can separate us from that love.
Agape love rejoices in the truth in an eternal celebration of God's kindness and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Agape love rejoices in the truth because that truth is extended to all as a free gift. All we need do is receive it in repentance and faith.
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; BEARS ALL THINGS, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Bearing All
It has been accurately noted by people way smarter than me that true Christianity is rife with paradoxes, at least from the worldly perspective.
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:25, NKJV).
...“If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35, NKJV).
“Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:4, NKJV).
“...he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." (Luke 22:26, NKJV).
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11, NKJV).
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10, NKJV)
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…" (James 1:2, NKJV).
I don't know how many times in my life I've said something like, "I can't take it anymore!" or "I can't bear it!" or "I'm fed up!" or "I've had enough!" It's funny though, I don't believe I've ever said that about something pleasant or good, but only about pain or inconvenience or grief or tedium. And in those declarations of intolerance I am also confessing that what is motivating me at that moment is NOT agape love, but self-love, which is the opposite.
Although it is impossible in and of ourselves to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of Christ's love, we can nevertheless know the unknowable (yet another paradox) by His Spirit within us (Eph 3:18,19). It makes sense when you think about it, because there are plenty of other impossible things He empowers us to accomplish as His children. It is His gifting alone that enables us to know and come to God, have faith, be saved forever, endure, persevere, discern truth, comprehend doctrine, speak boldly, supply comfort, sin less, desire righteousness, seek His counsel, have fellowship with Him, live and move and have our being. If our moment-by-moment waking existence was fully surrendered to that empowerment our lives would be very different, our impact on others profound, and our witness indomitably powerful.
By telling us that agape love BEARS ALL THINGS, Paul is not only encapsulating all those apparent paradoxes in one succinct statement, but he is also giving us insight into three additional implications of this kind of love.
The first is that love DESIRES to bear all things, not out of a sense of martyrdom or masochism, but on BEHALF of the beloved and for the GOOD of the beloved. Whatever offense, or betrayal, or doubt, or apathy, or rebellion, or disrespect, or anything else that the beloved causes or does is borne by the lover because that is what true love does. It is its essential nature. That is why God Himself IS love.
Secondly, this bearing also comes into play in "bearing one another's burdens", in coming alongside in support and nurture. True agape love is the very ground beneath the feet of the beloved. It is the hedge of protection and the arm of redemption no matter what the cost. It is the unfailing loyalty and unrelenting trustworthiness that forms the foundation of the love relationship. Without it, nothing can last.
And finally, agape love BEARS ALL THINGS because to do otherwise is to abandon, to break that which should never be broken, and to make conditional that which should be unconditional. The ultimate source of this kind of love, after all, is the very heart of God. As it is said, we love because He first loved us.
Perhaps this desire to bear all is the single distinctive of agape love in this passage that points us most directly to the Cross of Christ, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness..." (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV). "…who for the joy that was set before Him (our redemption and everlasting life) endured the cross, despising the shame…" (Heb 12:2).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
We're not in Kansas Anymore
Before I became a Christian, I did not believe all things, but in retrospect, I believed almost anything, however insane or stupid or evil, as long as it fit in with my world view, which was basically, me. Don't get me wrong. I THOUGHT I was rational and sensible, even scientific, in my approach to truth, but what was really happening was my constitutional inability to know the truth was showing, like toilet paper on my face after I cut myself shaving.
The truth of God is spiritually discerned. It is very much like a door opening into a room you guessed was near, but couldn't somehow enter. Or like blinders falling off your eyes, or finally getting a lens prescription that enabled you to see what was really, really going on in the Universe. Before Christ, I was convinced I knew what was behind all the important stuff, and I had more than a little contempt for those rubes of believed something useless like the Bible. Crackpots. Imbeciles. Wishful-thinking idiots.
I have a lot of empathy for people who think like that about me now, and have done for the last 15 years. Empathy, but not sympathy. I UNDERSTAND their attitude and know it be as despicable as mine was back then. I know what motivates it, too, and it isn't pretty. My hope and prayer for those misguided intellects is that God would transform their thinking by doing whatever it takes. For me it took a pronounced, chronic, quiet hopelessness that I attempted to drown or drug or short-circuit in any number of increasingly ineffective ways. Only when I came to the end of my own stubborn, prideful, ridiculous delusions of self-importance could I throw up my trembling hands in surrender to the One who is the source of all truth, goodness, love and justice. That defeat was a cause for eternal celebration, for in losing all that I counted as profit, I lost darkness and despair and gained Christ, "and the power of His resurrection…".
Agape love is NOT gullible. It doesn't just believe ANYTHING, that's what Fallen human beings do so poorly and conveniently, picking and choosing what to believe based on the needs of the moment. Instead, agape love believes wholly, irrevocably, unreservedly all TRUTH. And because agape love comes only through God, the author of truth, immersion in agape love opens the human heart and mind to what is really, really true.
Before Christ, I held all kinds of idiotic or evil things to be true: babies in the womb weren't people; sin is a myth; Hell is for idiots (well, I kind of still believe that but in a completely different way); life is by chance; Heaven doesn't exist; humans rule; I am in control. I KNOW better now. My eyes have been opened to the truth by the Spirit of God and I have been made free by that truth.
I know people who are going through painful trials, unimaginable heart-ache, massively uncertain futures, at least in this life. But because these same people believe the TRUTH, they have hope and peace that goes beyond merely human understanding. And they are able to face these things BELIEVING the truth, and that provides a strength and endurance that is well, supernatural.
One other thing, the believing in focus here is not the kind of grit-your-teeth or click-your-ruby-red-slippers kind of belief. It is NOT belief in the face of evidence to the contrary. In short, it is NOT the wishful-thinking belief that those who do not know, or who reject Christ, ironically live under. It is belief that first and foremost is a gift a God, and secondly, is founded upon the evidence of changed lives, the empty tomb, and the inarguable testimony of a regenerated heart. It is belief that comes when the eyes of faith see the God of love.
Give me that over the world any day.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, HOPES ALL THINGS, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
--
If Wishes Were Fishes We'd All Cast Nets
Monk, the genius TV detective emotionally devastated after the bombing death of his wife, is known for several iconic sayings. One of them is, "I hate hope."
The reason, of course, is because hope often disappoints. As a friend of mine recently posted, "the best way to avoid disappointment is to not expect anything from anyone." It makes sense from a human perspective. The more you hope, the more profound the disappointment potential. And sometimes unfulfilled hope is worse than hopelessness.
So then, why does Paul in this passage describe agape love as something that "hopes all things"? Is it because he wants us to become immune to disappointment? Or maybe he just thinks that anticipatory disappointment is good for the soul? If hope is painful, then why hope?
To understand this fully, a distinction has to be made between Biblical hope and the everyday kind of hope that is pretty much synonymous with wishing. I can hope that it doesn't rain today, but because that hope is not based on any sort of meaningful guarantee, I'm really just wishing it doesn't rain. In that sense then, that brand of hope is fraught with danger. Best to just stick your head out the door and see how wet it gets rather than waste any energy on the wish.
Biblical hope is not about wishing at all. Instead, it is a sure and certain expectation of something that has not yet occurred, and for which there is no equivalent empirical test. I can't pop my head into eternity and see what the weather is like. I can nonetheless have that hope without the slightest danger of disappointment because the source of that hope is the unequivocal promise of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Being who has taken incomprehensibly extreme measures to demonstrate His love for me. It is hope not based on whimsy or pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by wishful thinking. It is hope based on the solemn oath sworn by He who is the author and maintainer of all realms of existence. It is hope based on an everlasting covenant signed in blood on a hill in Judea two millennia ago. That is the hope agape love is focused upon. That is the hope that is intended to sustain us in this life no matter what other disappointments have or will occur.
To embrace that hope requires trust in its guarantor. To obtain that trust requires time spent in fellowship. To begin that fellowship requires surrender of self-reliance and self-will. Monk hates hope, because the only source of hope he knows is in this life, and being a genius, he understands how frail and fickle such hope is. Agape love encourages hope because its source is the faithfulness of God. There is no comparison between the two.
Hope is important. So important that it is mentioned in the New Testament no less that 61 times. Each instance is instructive, but I will leave you with just this one:
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ENDURES ALL THINGS. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
*
Loving Endurance
Who likes to be told to endure? Not me. The very thought has all kinds of negative connotations. I don't recall ever being asked to endure something pleasurable or good, but only painful, stressful, effortful or heartbreaking.
Yet, if we look carefully in Scripture there are plenty of good things about God (there can be no other kind) that endure. His love. His mercy. His faithfulness. His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So endurance in and of itself is clearly not always negative. And most of the time, the RESULT of endurance IS good.
By describing agape love as that which ENDURES ALL THINGS, I believe the Apostle Paul has both aspects of endurance in mind. Not just the wholly good flavor, but also the not-good kind that ultimately leads to good.
The absolute best example, of course, is the inventor of love Himself, Jesus. Look at what Hebrews 12 tells us:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2, NKJV).
These two verses encompass both the purely enjoyable kind of endurance ("…Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him…"), and the other kind that RESULTS in something wonderful ("…run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us…" and "…ENDURED the cross, despising the shame…").
We are to run the often painful, stressful, effortful and heartbreaking race of this life with ENDURANCE, looking unto Jesus who, out of agape love for us and the Father, and for the everlasting JOY of our eternal life with Him, ENDURED the cross in our place.
That's what true love does. it looks sacrificially toward the ultimate good of the beloved, and endures WHATEVER IT TAKES to bestow or provide that goodness.
When does that kind of love say "enough!"? It simply doesn't. That's why Jesus instructed His disciples: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV).
Agape love endures whatever it must, in order to obtain whatever it can, for the sake of the beloved. That's what Jesus did. That's what we, His followers and (amazingly) friends are to do as well.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED THEM TO THE END. (John 13:1, NKJV).
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
*
Epic Success
Here's the thing: God loves me more even than I love myself, and that's saying something. He thinks of me more than I think about myself, and that's equally phenomenal because basically the only time I'm not thinking about me is when I'm asleep (He never slumbers or sleeps), or when I'm thinking that you might be thinking about me. His thoughts toward me are uncountable and unfathomable and are incomprehensibly good.
He is obsessed with me, inscribing my name on the palm of His hand. He watches every move I make and knows everything I say before the words enter my head or leave my mouth. He knit me together in my mother's womb and knows the number of my days. He is with me rising up and lying down and when I go in and come out. His love is everlasting. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He sacrificed His own magnificent Son that I might live with Him forever, and He loves me not because of me, which would be shaky ground indeed, but because of Him. God IS love.
The other thing is this: I know this about God because He has taken great pains to write these truths down and have them painstakingly preserved over millennia, gifting me with the means (teachability and faith) to read and believe them in a massive love letter that describes Him and can transform me. It is because of who He is that I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.
This leads to the most important question in the Universe: Is God?
And He has ensured, through the evidence of His Creation and the revelation of His word, that the askers of this question are provided the answer. For he who comes to God must believe that He IS, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God's agape love is what powers existence. He did not need us but created us anyway, and did so in His image so that we could know Him and understand, in part at least, how great is His love for us. We do not deserve His love, but agape love can never be deserved, it can only be bestowed as a gift.
The point the Apostle Paul is making here in this last of 16 descriptive characteristics of agape is beyond mere human words or experience to convey. Of those three last words, LOVE NEVER FAILS, we have nothing really to compare to any of them except the last word, FAILS. We know failure and ending and the transitory nature of all things. We know that despite the most deep-seated desires of our heart for good things to last unchanging in this life, they just don't. They change. They end. Time destroys all things, eventually.
That's why our God, who is outside of time and the maker of time, has gone to such lengths to prove Himself to us. To let us know that existence in this realm of what we can see, hear, touch, and measure is not all there is. At one point, before the Fall, our ancestors knew this with the same certainty that we know death and taxes, but that knowledge was lost in the initial rebellion and remains lost in humanity's long war against God.
But God has not given us up for lost and Has not surrendered in His war to rescue us, because His love, the same love that propelled us into existence, NEVER FAILS. His unfailing love has provided us the only means of escape; His Son's death in our place.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, NKJV).
