Today is day 22 of the #iheartBible challenge that I’m hosting. If you have joined up, hooray! I’m glad you’re here. If you want to join up, then awesomesauce! Check out the challenge post for details and join in on the linky so we can all read one another’s posts during the challenge. I love Jesus and blogging, so I’m glad to see people joining in. We’d love to have you join, too. It’s never too late!
Today’s verse is 1 Corinthians 13.4. Read it below in its context (Why do I care about context?):
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is, perhaps, one of the most well-known verse about love in the Bible. This is often quoted at weddings–even weddings where God is otherwise not mentioned. But this is left out of all other relationships–sibling, parent/child, colleague, friend, stranger…
But what does it mean?
Patient
In order to show others we love them, we should be patient with them. In all realms of life: walking, growing, learning, changing, working, etc.
Kind
Kindness can be difficult to show when a person is self-focused. When we are thinking about another person more than ourselves, it is easier to be kind.
Unenvious
It can be so easy to be envious of a person’s success, happiness, or possessions. If we love a person, we are happy and rejoice in all the good things in their lives.
Unboastful
I think this is the toughest one in the list. In the greater context of this verse, the chapter is talking about the misuse of spiritual gifts. So, here, we’re talking about bragging to others. When we brag to others about our successes, we give them the opportunity to fail at loving genuinely and without envy. So, while, on one hand, we shouldn’t be envious of others, we also shouldn’t be one to give opportunity for envy either.
Unarrogant
Arrogance is a love-killer. Maybe I’m alone in this, but when someone acts arrogantly, I often am turned off by their behavior. Perhaps the author is encouraging us to maintain humility so that others are drawn to us and so that others feel loved and appreciated.
What do you think?
Love,
