One of the most well-known chapters of the Bible, largely because of its use in wedding ceremonies, is 1 Corinthians 13. Its application goes well beyond a marriage bond, though, so let’s consider outside of it’s usual context.

Purpose

Love gives purpose to everything. That’s what the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13 tell us. This realization should lead us to ask ourselves: Does love drive everything we do?

The next four verses describe how love should and should not manifest itself in our lives. In doing so, they help us to identify if real love exists in our lives.

  • When we are patient and kind, we show love. When we rejoice in truth and protect others, we show love. When we hope and persevere, we show love.
  • Love does not envy or boast. It isn’t proud and doesn’t dishonor. It’s not self-seeking and doesn’t get easily angered. It doesn’t remember wrongs or delight in evil.

These descriptions of what love is and is not are not difficult to understand, nor is it difficult to know whether or not we can describe ourselves in these ways. Love has found many definitions in today’s culture, but any descriptor outside of these is not love. We must give these boundaries to our love if we are to be healthy and if love is to give purpose to our lives.

Perspective

The love chapter then ends by saying what endures (lasts) and what does not. No matter how much knowledge, prophetic guidance, or spiritual revelation we receive, it does not last. It fades. Love doesn’t. Search your memory, and you’ll find this to be true in your life. Love expressed in the ways 1 Corinthians 13 describes remains. Of course, we’ve only experienced it through God’s love, which gives us the standard for our own love to continually grow toward.

Faith and hope are powerful biblical truths integral to our spiritual growth. But love is the greatest. Nothing trumps the love that God gives us and that he wants us to aspire to in how we love.

No new revelations here, I know. Yet, considering the love in 1 Corinthians 13 as a whole-life perspective and approaching it with a desire for a fresh perspective is likely what each of us needs to find renewal in our lives. Let’s purpose to live the type of love described here, not that which our culture says is love (which is pretty much whatever you want it to be).

Reflection: How can you show this type of love for yourself without falling prey to the world’s approach to self-love? How can your love for others grow and become more visible?

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