1 Corinthians 13

About the Text

(5) What does it mean to "keep no record of wrongs"? It means to not notice evil that is done to you. Those who are the most loving are not offended easily.

(6) If we don't notice evil, then why does Paul say "love does not delight in evil"? Ironically, a loving person resists doing evil himself, yet overlooks the evil done to him. For example, Jesus Christ was perfect, committing no evil. Yet as the soldiers tortured Him, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." In a similar way, the Christian grows in his/her hatred for evil, and delight in God's righteous laws ("truth").

(8) What does it mean that "love never fails"? God intended love to last eternally. This is the point of the following verses.

(8) Why would "prophecies... [speaking in] tongues... and knowledge" pass away? According to the next verse, we won't need them when Christ returns and we are living in eternity with God. Spiritual gifts, whether they be the ability to prophesy or the ability to administrate, are to be used for the upbuilding of the church in this present age. But when the church has been fully built up, complete, and perfect, then there will be no need for such gifts. For example, my gift in teaching the Bible will no longer be needed in eternity, because all God's children will see God face to face and have a complete knowledge of Him.

Insights

• God requires Christians to love, else they are nothing to Him. (1-3)
• Godly love is a decisive action, not a feeling. (4-7)
• God made most things to be temporary, but intended love to be eternally permanent. (8-13)

The Bottom Line

What a deal, I thought. These athletic shoes looked just like the real brand name ones - same logo, same color, same style. Not even I could tell the difference. But after wearing them for three days, the rubber was separating from the material, and the shoelace eyelets popped off. Such is the Christian without love. Like a cheap, mechanically produced copy, he resembles his master only in the features that are easy to simulate. It's easy, for example, to point out the sins of others, pray in public, conduct meetings, and with the right preparation, teach a Bible lesson with the precision of a scholarly book. Jesus did all that. But a Christian who tries to copy Jesus without love is far from the original. Even the world can tell the difference. Just as a man, blind since birth, cannot conceive of color until his eyes are miraculously opened, so the natural man cannot conceive of perfect love until his eyes of faith are miraculously opened. Without an understanding of Jesus Christ, we cannot truly love, because we have never seen it before. We see only the world's love, which is only like the crayon scribbles of a child who thinks he's writing. That is why the cross of Christ remains to be the only seed where true love blossoms. God may have provided us a wonderful spouse, children, and a home, but that doesn't demonstrate the full depth of His love. It is only when we understand how enormous His sacrifice was, and how glorious was His throne, and how vile our sin, our how miserable we were without Christ, how wonderful was His gift of salvation, and how vast was His plan - only then do we clearly see the love of God. We have tasted God's love only when we can almost hear Jesus say as He hung in agony on that cross, "[your name], my child, this is for you, which I had planned from all eternity." Then, when we see God's love in this way, we are so impressed, because there is no love like it, that we cannot help but want to love in the same way.

PRAYER