But Above All These Is Love - 1 Corinthians 13:13
Love is
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Doing an in-depth Bible study on the topic of love is no easy task being that God’s word has so much to say about love. There is no doubt that our love matters to God when He used the term love 322 times in the Bible. Love is mentioned 139 times in the Old Testament and 183 times in the New Testament.
No wonder our love matters to God when we understand that God is love. (1 John 4:8)
Jesus’ top two commandments were, Love God and love others. (Matthew 22:36-40)
Jesus also spoke more specifically to His disciples about love in John 13:34-35 saying,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another."
John 13:34-35
Peter and Paul both elevated love as a top priority.
And above all things have fervent LOVE for one another.
1 Peter 4:8
But above all these things put on LOVE, which is the bond of perfection.
Colossians 3:14
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:13
In other words, love matters to God!
The Love Chapter
Most Christians recognize 1 Corinthians as the Love Chapter. First Corinthians 13 gives us great descriptors of what love is, is not, and what it does not do.
Love is:
Is long-suffering and kind
Rejoices together in the truth
Hides the fault of others
Believes and hopes all things
Love is not:
Envious
Boastful
Full of pride or self-conceit
Self-seeking
Love does not:
Behave in an ugly, indecent, or unbecoming manner
Think or count on what is bad and eternally worthless that could cause harm or injury to anyone
There is a repeated phrase in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 that confronts us as well.
“But not have love.” (1 Corinthians 13:1, 2, &3)
The essence of the love chapter is that we can be gifted to carry out specific roles or functions in the body of Christ, but without love, any gift we have and even excel at, is worthless. Paul addressed the church related to their speech saying anything that comes out of our mouth without love is like “sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”(1 Corinthians 13:1) He then addresses the action of giving all we have to feed the poor, and says if we “have not love, it profits me nothing.”(1 Corinthians 13:3) We can have knowledge, understanding, faith, hope and even do really good things, but without love, we missed the heart of God who Himself is love. (1 John 4:8)
Love According To John
The apostle John, aka. the beloved disciple, understood the essence and origins of love. He experienced God’s love himself. John had walked with and watched the purest love displayed in and through the life and death of Jesus who was, is, and always will be God divinely manifested in human flesh. In response to walking with, following, being the close companion of the One (Jesus) who embodied love, many years later, John wrote to the church.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God,
and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7
Let Us Love One Another
Let us love one another sounds so right. It sounds good and we know we should. However, we live in a world, (even in our Christian world) where “love one another” is not always so easy. In all honesty, loving one another has never been really easy for us. If we go all the way back to the first mom and dad, their oldest son, the first born man child, killed his younger brother over jealousy. The first letter to the Corinthian church originated from a need to address divisions and contentions in the church. And still today we struggle with getting along in the church.
Open any social media app or Google search any well-known preacher, and you will see Christians slam dunking their brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe they did something bad and really deserved someone to set them straight, but I can’t help but wonder what all our ugliness to one another says to a watching world.
You know the saying, boys will be boys. I think we can say, mankind will be mankind. We all have a natural tendency to live and love for ourselves and our own beliefs and values. This deep-seated nature will fight to the end to have its own way. 1 Corinthians 13 shows us we can shine it all up and make our words and actions look nice and snazzy on the outside, but inside we all know we need Jesus. We need the conviction of His word that exposes where we don’t measure up to true love. And surely we know we need His Holy Spirit to transform us where we are completely unable to transform ourselves.
What We Can Do To Love More and More
Years ago I read D.L. Moody’s book, “Secret Power.” In it he wrote “I recommend all Christians read 1 Corinthians 13 constantly, abiding in it day and night, summer and winter, twelve months in the year. Then the power of Christ and Christianity would be felt as it never has been in the history of the world.” I read these words and remembered Jesus’ words in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
I will tell you, I am confident my love for others does not measure up to the standard and perfection of God’s love, but I want to love better. If my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ shows others who I belong to, I don’t want to say, “Oh well, we all aren’t doing a great job at loving. It’s just the way it is. My love looks a lot better than a lot of other people. I don’t think I am doing so bad.” Instead, I want to say, “Holy Spirit change me and make me more and more like my Savior Jesus.”
True Love Pursuit Challenge
Let me challenge you to join me in a true love better pursuit. The way I am going to practically strive to love better, is following D.L. Moody’s instruction for the next 30 days. Today, I am writing 1 Corinthians 13 in my prayer journal and commit to read it and pray for the Holy Spirit to help me love like that. Plus, I am going to write Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 in my journal and pray that prayer for myself. So that’s my challenge to you as well.
Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 written as a personal prayer for us to pray for ourselves.
Precious Heavenly Daddy, Lord God Almighty, I pray that my love may abound still more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, that I may approve the things that are excellent, that I may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. AMEN!