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Living 1st Corinthians 13

by Anna Wood  
12/30/2008 / Bible Studies

What do you mean when you say, "I love you"? Chances are you mean different things each time you say it. Most people love because of something that they get out of it. God, on the other hand, loves simply because He is. He expects His people to learn to love as He does. Chapter 13 of I Corinthians lets us see into God's heart as He defines love from His perspective. There are no warm fuzzies found here. This is the real thing.

LOVE: having unselfish, benevolent concern for the good of another, even at your own expense. (Do you do what is good for others even when it hurts you?)

Love is PATIENT: we must be longsuffering in our trials and not be hasty in our decisions and actions. (Can you face problems without complaining?
Are you patient when others are unkind? Can you waitendlesslyif you have to? )

Love is KIND: being sympathetic and helpful to others even when it hurts us.
(Do you seek to serve, even when others don't? Do you look for ways
to help others when you know that they aren't going to do the same for
you?)

Does not ENVY: not being resentful when others receive or achieve what we wish that we could have. (Can you tell a friend that you are happy for her, and mean it, when she
has just gotten something that you would love to have but can't?)

Does not BOAST: not looking for ways to brag on ourselves. (Is "I" one of the dominant words in your vocabulary? Are you constantly looking for ways to show off what you have accomplished?)

It is not PROUD: not thinking ourselves above or better than others. (Are you sure that your way is best, always? Can you bring yourself to humbly listen, and learn, and be corrected by another?)

It is not RUDE: being careful not we offend others. (Are you tactful or tactless? Do you consider how your words or actions are going to make others feel?)

It is not SELF-SEEKING: not seeking our own good first but the good of another.
(Do you put yourself or others first?)

It is not easily ANGERED: having a slow fuse. (Do others feel as if
they have to walk on eggshells around you? Do others fear displeasing you--not because they love and respect you but are afraid of what you might say or do?)

Keeps no RECORD Of WRONGS: not keeping tract of what others have done to hurt us.
(Do you remind others of the hurt that they have caused you? Do you judge others by their failures?)

Does not DELIGHT IN EVIL BUT REJOICES IN THE TRUTH: not taking satisfaction in sinful things, being glad when truth and good wins out;
(Is the truth of God's Word important to you? Are you insistent that truth comes
out even if you are injured by it?)

ALWAYS PROTECTS, ALWAYS TRUSTS, ALWAYS HOPES, ALWAYS PERSEVERES continually shielding others, having confidence in others, anticipating good from others despite reason for discouragement. (Do you go out of your way to see that someone is taken care of? Will you continue to trust God even when things
are black? Do you trust His Word to be true when everything around you is
falling apart? Can you keep on keeping on when there seems to be no reason
to or when others are telling you a thing is hopeless?)

LOVE NEVER FAILSat no time loses strength or dies. (Can you be trusted to be true in all ways until the very end?)This is a picture of Jesus' love for us and He expects us to love this way, also. However, on our own it is impossible for us to love this unselfishly.
We mush depend upon God to do the loving through us when we give ourselves to
Him as a living sacrifice. We must then let Him act through us for the good of others...even for others who don't treat us with love or who have by their words, actions, inaction, inattention or outright cruelty, have wounded us. When we can do that, we are loving as Jesus did when He was on earth. We have to trust God and believe that He can
and will do all things for us, with us and through us, including loving like this. We must live out the truth of Philippians 4: 13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."

Anna Wood is a Christian wife, mother of 9 children, homeschooler and writer. Her desire is to know, love, and obey God and bring Him glory and help others to do the same. Her website is called The Apples of Gold and is at http://theapplesofgold.com

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