David Bahn – Reflections

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I’m using the 49 Week Bible Challenge for these blog posts. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are 1 Corinthians 13; Job 13; 19; 26; 36.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Many couples choose 1 Corinthians 13, the “Love Chapter,” for their wedding service and the message I share that day. I like to make a point by substituting their names for the word love in the passage:

Joe is patient and kind; Mary does not envy or boast; he is not arrogant or rude. She does not insist on her own way…

It doesn’t take long before they glance at each other, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a little shame or accusation. You can almost hear it in their eyes: You’re not all that! or I wish I were more like that.

This passage is perfect for a wedding – after all, love is essential for Christian marriage – but Paul didn’t write it about marriage. He wrote it to a divided church. The Corinthians were quarreling over leaders, bragging about their spirituality, abusing Holy Communion, tolerating immorality, and even taking each other to court.

Paul had just finished teaching about the Holy Spirit giving different gifts to different people. Now he shows them the more excellent way – the way the church is to live out faith with God and with one another.

Love is the way the body of Christ is built up. It’s the heart of true worship and the measure of every offering. It’s impossible to make a bold witness or a genuine sacrifice without love.

The trouble is, we’re not very good at it. I lose my temper too quickly. You may recognize impatience, envy, or pride in your own heart. None of us display love perfectly, but by God’s grace we keep learning – at home, in marriage, and in the church.

Here’s the good news: when you put Jesus’ name in place of love, in the passage it finally fits.

Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus does not envy or boast. He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful. He does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never ends.

That’s because Jesus is God in the flesh, and God is love.

When Jesus’ love fills our hearts and shapes our lives, it spills over into marriages, friendships, and communities that reflect his love to a world desperately in need of Him.