1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind….
1 Cor 13 is often seen as a wedding passage, but I think it is an excellent look at how we should treat others daily. We should love each other, be kind to each other, place others before self, check our anger and impatience with each other, keep no record of wrongs. Loving others means that we offer them a port in the storm, treat them with unconditional positive regard, persevere in love even through mistakes and missteps, both ours and theirs.
1 Cor 13:5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
The steps to love are laid out so simply, but it is not tremendously easy to follow at times because invariably, our humanity gets in the way. We get angry, or we’re disappointed, or afraid, or sad, or we are carrying so much of our own baggage that we don’t take time to get past it to see what the other person is dealing with. Or we are so locked into our own grief that we can’t see past our pain.
1 Cor 13:7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder of what Your love looks like. Thank You for calling us to love each other as You love us—completely, fiercely, unconditionally. Help us to love past our own shortcomings and limitations and those of others. Help us to love each other in the spirit of 1 Cor 13. Draw us closer to each other and to You. Amen.
1 Cor 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Have a blessed day.