Loving like God loves

Often read at weddings and often called the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13 is both joyful and sobering. Who can love like this without the Holy Spirit of God filling their heart with it?

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)

The ’everlasting’ part touches me today. This says love will outlive all declarations about God, all spiritual gifts, all understanding and knowledge. I cannot imagine the world without those three — yet even when they are obsolete, love remains.

A few verses later, a greater statement is made . . .

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Think of eternity in these terms. Nothing else will be needed but love. Why is that? It strikes me that faith is about trusting Christ, but also about me. Hope is about the assurance of God for my future, but also about me.

Love is different; it is not about me. Yes, God loves me, but because the Holy Spirit pours it in me so it can be poured out, His love gives me concern for others, just as His heart is about others.

Faith and hope will be realized — what I believe and hope for will become a reality. However, the endless, everlasting love of God is always real and will never pass away or become completely fulfilled. His love is without boundaries, without beginning or end, without total fulfilment in that it is never done. It will never waver like faith does, never be uncertain like hope is, but always shining and poured out from a God whose love cannot fade or be used up.

Tozer says that my love for God should include reverence without levity or a careless familiarity. While I agree, I know that God’s love for me often chuckles just as His humor shows in creation with the crafting of some of the silliest of animals and their habits.

However, there is a reason I should never consider God lightly. Loving Him produces great conviction of my own unworthiness. God has no reason to love me except love is who He is. Faith is about me trusting Him. Hope is about me putting my expectations in His promises. But love begins with God.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins . . . We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:10, 19)

Unless I realize that He loves me, unless I know Him, I cannot love Him or anyone else with that endless and abiding love. Instead, my ‘love’ will be based on the performance of others, not like God’s love that is based on who He is apart from any deservedness in us.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, to love as You love I need the Holy Spirit and the willingness to admit that I cannot do it without You. I also need to remember and fully embrace the fact that You love me, regardless of who I am and what I do. This is who You are. I also need You to keep me aware that Satan’s biggest lie remains ‘God does not love you’ and not let this enemy bring doubt or forgetfulness into my mind. Thank You for Your grace and for holding me in Your care.