Several years ago, I was sitting at a wedding with a good friend of mine. We began to jokingly bet on what the service would contain as there was not a program to follow. We guessed songs, scriptures, and what type of unity ceremony the couple might use. We had a good laugh every time one of us got something right and the other missed it.
1 Corinthians 13 is a well-known passage on love. It is often used at weddings to celebrate the love between the new bride and groom. As Valentine’s Day is celebrated this week, much of the focus will be on love for a significant other. But the love Paul writes about in Corinthians is far more than just a romantic, Hallmark-card ready love. It’s more than a feeling or an emotion that can fade or waver. As we have been talking about on Sundays, this is a love that comes from the truth of who God is; it’s from His nature, the essence of His being.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
You’ve probably heard this expression before, but these verses can be used as a checklist. You take out the word “love” and insert your name. Using my own name, it would go something like this: “Aaron is patient”…well, sometimes… “Aaron is kind”…well, sort of… It’s easy to hear that expression, “Use this as a checklist” and dismiss it, because you’ve heard it before. But what if we took a moment to take that seriously? Are we patient and kind? Are we not full of envy or pride? Do we rejoice with the truth? How much room for improvement do we have on the list?
I pray that as the world around us talks about love, we will be reminded of the greatest love of all. The love that was shown to us through the life of Jesus, through his death and resurrection. If we are able to insert our name into this text, my bet is that we look a whole lot like Jesus.
Love never fails… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Grace, peace, and love,
Aaron pastoraaronhinton@gmail.com
(704) 300-0081