The Gift of Love

Gifts in Corinth. The church in Corinth had many gifts from the Holy Spirit. Paul had just written, “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way” (12:31). The better way is love. Loud but empty. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (13:1). A cymbal makes a big noise, but it cannot care about anyone. Big gifts, nothing gained. Paul named great things: speaking God’s message, understanding mysteries, faith that could move mountains, and giving everything to the poor (13:2-3). Without love, he said, “I am nothing” and “it profits me nothing.” Why love matters. God gives gifts so we can help each other, not so we can show off. A gift used without love turns everyone’s eyes toward us instead of toward God and the people we are meant to help. Jesus did it perfectly. Jesus had all power, yet He used it to heal the sick, to feed the hungry and finally to give His life for us. Every miracle He did came from love. God sees the heart. People see what we can do. God sees why we do it. He is not looking for the most talented kid in the room. He wants your heart. What this means for you. Think of one thing you are good at. Ask Jesus to help you use it this week to love someone, not to be noticed.

A church full of gifts. The believers in Corinth had real gifts from the Holy Spirit (12:4-11), but they were using them to compete. Paul did not tell them to stop. He wrote, “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts” (14:1). The gifts are for today, and love is how they are meant to be used. Self-giving love. The Greek word Paul uses for love is agape (say: ah-GAH-pay). It means love that gives itself for the good of someone else, even when it costs. It is not a feeling that comes and goes. It is the love God showed when “He loved us and sent His Son” (1 John 4:10). Tongues of angels (13:1). Corinth was famous for its bronze, and pagan worship in the city used loud gongs and cymbals. Even the most amazing speech, without love, is only noise. It fills the room but helps no one. All mysteries, all faith (13:2). Faith “so that I could remove mountains” recalls Jesus’ words about faith moving a mountain (Matthew 17:20). Even that kind of faith, without love, leaves a person “nothing.” Giving and suffering (13:3). A person could give away everything, or even die for a cause, and still gain nothing if the motive is pride. “For man looks at the outward appearance,” but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). For your life. Ask yourself what drives you when you serve: to be seen, or to help? Jesus said He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). That is agape in action, and He gives it to everyone who trusts Him.

The church in Corinth had many gifts from God. But some people were proud of their gifts. They wanted to look important. Paul wrote to help them see what matters most. God cares about our hearts, not just what we can do. You might sing well or know lots of Bible facts. Those are good gifts from God. Without love, though, they sound like a clanging bell. God gave us gifts so we could help other people. Love is what makes our gifts helpful. Jesus had more power than anyone who ever lived. He used His power to help people and save them. That is what real love looks like.

God gives good gifts. But love is the best gift of all. Gifts without love are just noise. God wants us to love others.

Love has a face. Verses 4-5 describe love, and the best way to see it is to look at Jesus. Try reading them with His name: Jesus suffers long and is kind. Patient. “Love suffers long” (13:4) means love is slow to get angry and keeps on loving. Jesus was patient with Peter, even after Peter said three times that he did not know Him. Kind. Jesus touched sick people and welcomed the children others tried to send away. Not jealous, not proud. Love “does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up” (13:4). Jesus is God’s Son, yet “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:8). Not rude, not selfish. Love “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own” (13:5). Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, which was a servant’s job. No list of wrongs. Love “thinks no evil” (13:5). It does not keep score. God says, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Loved first. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). These verses are not a test to pass so that God will accept you. They show how God loves you, and then the Holy Spirit grows the same love in you.

Love is something you do. In Greek, verses 4-7 describe love with fifteen verbs, not adjectives. Love acts, and love refuses to act in certain ways. Makrothymei (13:4). “Suffers long” is makrothymei (say: mah-kroh-thoo-MAY), literally long-tempered, the opposite of short-tempered. The same idea describes God Himself: “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). We can be patient because God is “longsuffering toward us” (2 Peter 3:9). Puffed up (13:4). The word pictures something blown up with air. Paul uses it six times in this letter for the pride that was splitting the church (4:6, 18-19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4). Not seeking its own (13:5). Love looks out for others first. Paul says the same thing in another letter: “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). Read it with Jesus’ name. Every line of verses 4-5 fits Jesus. Read the lines with your own name and you quickly fall short. That is why we need the gospel: Jesus loved perfectly in our place, and now “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Not a ladder. These verses are not steps to climb so God will accept us. We love because we are already loved: “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Paul wrote down what love is like. Each part is a picture of Jesus. Jesus is patient. He kept loving His friends when they got things wrong. Jesus is kind. He held little children and fed hungry people. He was never proud or rude. He even washed His friends’ dirty feet. Jesus does not keep a list of our wrongs. When we tell Him we are sorry, He forgives us. We do not love so that God will love us. God loved us first! Then His Holy Spirit helps us love like Jesus. Jesus is kind to you. He helps you be kind to others.

“Love is patient and kind.” Jesus is patient and kind. He loved us first. Then He helps us love others too.

Glad about what is right. Love “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (13:6). Iniquity means sin. Love is never happy when someone does wrong, even someone it does not like. Bears all things. Love “bears all things” (13:7). It carries hard things without quitting. Believes and hopes. Love “believes all things, hopes all things.” This does not mean believing every lie. It means love chooses to hope for the best and does not give up on people. Endures all things. Love keeps standing under a heavy load. It keeps going when it would be easier to walk away. Jesus kept going. On the cross, people mocked Jesus. He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). He “endured the cross, despising the shame” for us (Hebrews 12:2). He has not given up on you. God’s love for you does not quit when you fail. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). What this means for you. Think of someone who is hard to love. Pray for that person by name, and ask Jesus to help you show one kind act this week.

Truth and love together (13:6). Love “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” Love never cheers when someone else falls, and it never asks you to call sin good. Ephesians 4:15 tells believers to speak the truth in love. Bears all things (13:7). The verb can mean to cover, the way a roof keeps out the rain. Love protects people instead of spreading their faults around (compare 1 Peter 4:8). Believes all things. This does not mean believing every claim. It means love gives people the benefit of the doubt and refuses to give up hope for them. Paul warned this same church about false teaching, so love and good judgment go together. Endures all things. The word pictures a soldier holding his ground. Love stays when it would be easier to leave. A picture of the cross. Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He looked to “the joy that was set before Him” and “endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Verse 7 is lived out most fully at the cross. God’s love never quits. Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Living it. Love that endures is not squeezed out by willpower. It grows as you stay close to Jesus, like fruit on a branch (John 15:5). When someone is hard to love, ask Him for His love, then take one step: pray, forgive, or speak a kind word. A safe limit. Bearing all things never means hiding abuse or staying silent when someone is in danger. Love tells a trusted adult.

Love is never happy when someone does wrong. Love is glad when the truth is told. It keeps going even when things are hard. Paul wrote that love always trusts and always hopes. That does not mean love believes every lie. It means love hopes for good things for people. Jesus loved us this way. He kept going all the way to the cross. People were mean to Him, but He kept loving. He even prayed for the people who hurt Him. Jesus never gives up on you. When you mess up, He still loves you. He can help you keep loving others too.

Love is glad about what is true. Love keeps going. Jesus never gives up on us. He keeps on loving us.

Love never fails. “Love never fails” (13:8). Gifts like prophecy, tongues and knowledge are good gifts from God for His church today. But they are for now. Only a part. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part” (13:9). Even the best Bible teacher knows only a small part of how great God is. When the perfect comes. “But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (13:10). Many Christians see this as the day Jesus returns, when we see Him face to face. Growing up. A child talks and thinks like a child, but a grown man puts “away childish things” (13:11). Life now is like being a child. Seeing God will be like being all grown up. A dim mirror. Mirrors back then were polished metal, and the picture was blurry. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (13:12). Known by God. “I shall know just as I also am known” (13:12). God already knows you completely, and He still loves you. The greatest. Faith and hope help us now. One day faith will become sight, and hope will come true. Love will go on forever, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). What this means for you. When you feel like you do not understand everything about God, that is okay. Keep trusting Him and keep loving.

Love outlasts the gifts (13:8). Prophecies “will fail,” tongues “will cease,” knowledge “will vanish away,” but love “never fails.” The gifts are tools for building up the church in this age (14:12). Love is the life of the age to come. Teleion (13:10). “That which is perfect” is teleion (say: TEL-ay-on), meaning complete or full-grown. Verse 12 tells us what it will be like: “then face to face.” Many Christians see this as the return of Jesus. Until then, the gifts of the Spirit are still for the church, used in love and “decently and in order” (14:40). Childhood and adulthood (13:11). Teleion can also mean full-grown; Paul uses it in 14:20 for mature thinking. Our knowledge of God now is true, but it is childlike next to what is coming. The mirror (13:12). Corinth was known for bronze mirrors, which gave a dim, wavy image. Now we know God truly, but not clearly. Then we will see “face to face,” the way “the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). Fully known. “I shall know just as I also am known.” God’s knowledge of us comes first. To be fully known and still loved is the heart of the gospel. Abide (13:13). Faith, hope and love remain. Faith will become sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and hope will be fulfilled (Romans 8:24). Love will never be finished, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the greatest because it is the very nature of God. For your life. You will not understand everything about God in this life. Faith trusts Him anyway, hope waits for Him, and love keeps serving Him now.

God gives gifts to His church today. Some people speak God’s messages. Others know special things from God. These gifts are real and good. But they help us only for now. Paul wrote that these gifts will end when perfection comes. Many Christians see that as the day Jesus comes back. Right now we know only part of God’s plan. It is like looking in a dark mirror. One day we will see clearly, face to face. Faith and hope help us wait for that day. Love will go on forever, because God is love.

Love never ends. One day we will see Jesus face to face. Faith, hope, and love last forever. The greatest is love!

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