My Name Isn’t Reverend

From my earliest days of preaching, I’ve met people now and then who insist on calling me “Reverend” Himmel. That always makes me uncomfortable—no, queasy would be more accurate.

My dictionary says “reverend” is an adjective that means “worthy of profound awe and respect.” Now, there may be some folks who respect me, but I’m quite sure I do not deserve anyone’s “profound awe.”

Of course, people who call me “Reverend” do it because they think that’s what you’re supposed to call a preacher. But who decided that? Certainly not anyone in the Scriptures. The word “reverend” appears only once in the Bible—as a description of God. “Holy and reverend is his name” (Psalm 111:9). Newer translations render the word “awesome” or “fearful.”

Such a majestic description of the power of God sounds ridiculous when tacked onto the names of men. Only human pride could create such a mismatch.

Jesus spoke in strong terms against the kind of attitude that delights in fancy titles. He denounced those hypocrites who gloried in being called “Rabbi,” “father,” and “teacher” (Matthew 23:6-10). He pointed his servants instead to humility: “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (verses 11-12).

Even a common Christian term like “brother” can become a title of sorts when we apply it only to certain people, such as preachers or elders. Christians are all brothers in Christ (Matthew 23:8), servants of God and of each other. Why should I be called “Brother Jeff” and some other member of God’s family just be called “Tom”?

We are followers of the Son of God, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:6,7). The wearing of high-sounding religious titles is the very opposite of that servant spirit.

Andrew

“The next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus … One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ … And he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:35-37, 40-42).

This brief narrative in John’s gospel is about the only scripture that describes something Andrew said or did; yet it has something valuable to teach us.

When most people discover something that is of great help or value to them, they like to tell their friends about it. Whether it’s a good book or toothpaste or car wax, we figure if it helps us, it will help someone else. We call it “word of mouth” advertising.

Andrew found something that was important to him. So he did what was perfectly natural: he shared the good news with his brother. It didn’t require vast knowledge, dynamic personality, or great speaking ability. All Andrew did was tell Peter about Jesus and bring him to the Savior. Why do we find that so hard to do? Do we not think Jesus is important enough to tell someone about? Do we want to keep the gospel all to ourselves instead of sharing it? Do we think we’re incapable of telling someone about Him? None of these things entered Andrew’s mind as he rushed to find Peter and share the joyous news.

What if Andrew hadn’t cared enough to tell his brother about Jesus? Peter might never have come to know the Messiah. A precious soul might have been lost. And a man to whom we owe much might never have been anything more than a fisherman.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). Christian, if men are going to be saved, it is up to each and every one of us to say to them, “We have found the Messiah.”

Love Bears, Believes, Hopes, Endures

Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Love bears all things. “Bear” here primarily means to cover or conceal. But what does love conceal? Since it is interested in others, what love seeks to cover is their shortcomings. “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). It does so, not through deceit and dishonesty, but through forgiveness and forbearance. Love does not turn a blind eye to sin, but neither does it delight in magnifying people’s faults. While tabloid papers and talk shows feast on scandal, love glorifies what is good.

Love believes all things. In a world rife with liars, cheats, and con artists, we learn early not to trust people much. To be sure, God doesn’t wish us to be gullible. “The naive believes everything, but the prudent man considers his steps” (Proverbs 14:15). But when it comes to other people, love is an optimist. Its judgments are not dominated by suspicion and doubt. Love looks for the good in others and believes the best about them. How many of us would have seen the apostles as a bunch of losers with little hope for success? Yet Jesus believed in them enough to entrust them with the most important task ever placed in men’s hands. As we grow in our faith toward God, let’s try to develop a little more faith in one another.

Love hopes all things. We all experience disappointments: a friend or relative who won’t come to Christ, a Christian who goes astray, a congregation that can’t seem to get itself out of neutral. But love trusts in the God with whom all things are possible (Mark 10:27). It looks for hope—in every situation, and with every person. It patiently does what it can to admonish a lost sinner (Acts 2:40) or restore a wayward brother (2 Thessalonians 3:15). Paul was surely discouraged by the Corinthians’ shortcomings. Yet he begins and ends 1 Corinthians with hope (1:4-9; 16:13-14). He had hope for them because of his hope in Christ.

Love endures all things. Love simply cares too much to give up. When people are faithless, it clings to God who is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). When circumstances are bleak, it holds on to His promises. Love endures because it trusts in His love. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

Love Rejoices

Love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).

Not in unrighteousness

Love takes no joy in disobeying God. Some people rejoice over their sin, even take pride in it. We see it when men (or women) brag about their sexual exploits or share stories of drunken revelry. God warns against those “who rejoice in doing evil, and rejoice in the perversity of the wicked” (Proverbs 2:14).

Love doesn’t rejoice in someone else’s sins, either. Romans 1:32 condemns those who condone the wickedness of others and imitate it. Are we careful not to lend our approval to wrongdoing by participating in it, supporting it financially, or standing by in silence?

Sometimes we’re tempted to rejoice at other people’s sin because it makes us feel holier. Jesus told a story of a man who tried to exalt himself by emphasizing the shortcomings of others (Luke 18:10-14). When someone else does wrong, do you feel like congratulating yourself for being superior?

Some folks even seem glad to see others hurt as a result of sin. When some public figure gets caught up in a scandal, does it make you want to laugh at him or cry for him? And does your answer depend on who the person is? Love isn’t happy at anyone’s being lost in sin, because its reward is death (Romans 6:23). God said, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). Our Father doesn’t rejoice when sin bears its awful fruit. How can we?

But with the truth

“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 6). Modern thinking often confuses love with acceptance. It insists that love means ignoring doctrinal differences, no matter how serious they are, and embracing each other in fellowship. It insists that love means accepting a person’s behavior, no matter how ungodly it is.

But spiritual compromise is not the love God describes. When confronted with false teaching and immorality, love responds with truth. It stands for what is right, even if that isn’t always pleasant (see 2 John 10-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:5-6). Love is never unkind or abusive (which I think some brethren would do well to remember), but it is unwavering in its commitment to Christ. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Love rejoices with the truth. It delights in God’s law (Psalm 1:2). Love is happy to hear the gospel and think on it. Do you look forward to an extra Bible study or a gospel meeting with eager anticipation, or is it more like dread? Love is happy to proclaim the gospel. A person who loves God’s word will share it; it becomes a fire in his heart (Jeremiah 20:9). And love is happy to see others obey the gospel. “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 3).

Love Thinks No Evil

One of the most challenging things in Paul’s portrait of love (1 Corinthians 13) is his statement that love “thinks no evil” (verse 5, NKJV). The verb here is an accounting term for making an entry on a ledger; the idea is “taking account” of something, or dwelling on it. The “evil” in view is not wickedness in general, but rather the evil that others do to us. So Paul is telling us that love doesn’t keep an account of wrongs suffered from others. Love “is not resentful” (RSV), “keeps no record of wrongs” (NIV), “does not brood over wrongs” (Weymouth). And that is a challenge!

Love doesn’t “keep score” when it comes to insults and injuries. But many of us do. And our score keeping is usually worst in our closest relationships—husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends, and fellow saints. When there’s a problem with the other person, we dust off our memories of his past transgressions and use them as weapons against him. We say things like, “Well, what about that time you [insert mistake here]?” or even, “You always [insert insensitive action here]!” We try to shame him into surrender by humiliating him with his faults. But in the process we slowly destroy that person’s trust in us. And worse, we do exactly what God says love doesn’t do.

“And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Most of us are eager to make peace when someone has wronged us. We should be. The problem is that we often make peace without really forgiving. Instead, we file the incident away in the recesses of our mind with a little red flag on it. That way we can bring it out and wave it in the other person’s face if he ever does anything like that again.

But note that forgiveness like God’s is what the Spirit commands (“just as God in Christ has also forgiven you”). God promised, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). When God forgives our sin, He views it as if it never happened. As we would say, “forgive and forget.” That’s what we have to learn to do. It may be difficult, sometimes impossible, to actually erase the memory of what someone has done. But true forgiveness makes us treat that memory as if it never happened.

And while we’re on the subject, Solomon has some wise instruction for us: “Do not take seriously all words which are spoken, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others” (Ecclesiastes 7:20-21). In other words, don’t be overly sensitive about what others say (or do) to you. The forgiving spirit of love doesn’t keep a tally of every careless word or deed. It applies the “golden rule” (Matthew 7:12), knowing that all of us sometimes say or do insensitive things without meaning to hurt anyone. Instead of getting bent out of shape over every little thing, let’s try to give each other the benefit of the doubt. A grudge is a mighty heavy load to carry around.

Love Is Not Provoked

1 Corinthians 13:5 reminds us that love isn’t “irritable” (RSV), or “easily angered” (NIV). It is “slow to anger,” because it knows that “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

Anger is a dangerous emotion. It can cloud our judgment, impair our reason, and focus our attention only on our own wishes. While some of us are more temperamental than others, love knows that outbursts of anger are sinful (Galatians 5:20). One who loves doesn’t lose his temper and then try to excuse it with, “That’s just the way I am.” He makes a conscious effort to control anger in every situation. He doesn’t use “I’ve had a bad day” as a reason to unload on somebody. Love keeps anger on a tight leash.

Sometimes people even try to make us angry. And sometimes we’re all too ready to give them what they want. Love teaches us restraint even in the face of provocation. Its patience enables us to put up with a lot. “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone…Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21).

Love reserves anger only for things that are an affront to God. Remember how Paul was “provoked” (same word) at the idolatry he witnessed in Athens (Acts 17:16). Sin should make us angry. But even righteous anger can get the better of us if we aren’t careful. More than once it has become a pretext for slander and abuse—in which case it ceases to be righteous. “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

Love Does Not Seek Its Own

Of all the phrases Paul uses to describe love in 1 Corinthians 13, perhaps none better sums it up than the declaration that love “does not seek its own” (verse 5).

Selfishness and personal pride can be found at the root of every kind of wickedness. So it shouldn’t surprise us to find so much unhappiness in our society, where nearly everything is geared toward fulfilling selfish interests. Americans are almost obsessed with our personal rights, and it’s making us miserable. As William Barclay observed, “It would be the key to almost all the problems which surround us today, if men would think less of their rights and more of their duties.” And our chief duties, Jesus reminds us, are to our Creator and all those made in His image (Mark 12:28-31).

Despite all its hype to the contrary, our world places little real value on serving others. In contrast, the Spirit of God implores us in the gospel to look beyond ourselves, get outside of ourselves, and learn to become servants. We are all slaves to something—either sin or righteousness (Romans 6:16-23). Pride deludes us into thinking we’re in control of our own lives, when in reality we’re slaves to sin. Love, on the other hand, is happy to be a slave to righteousness. The one who loves knows that he is not his own, but belongs to God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Love takes a genuine interest in the well being of those around it. It serves others, not self. It sacrifices freely to meet their needs—especially when those needs are spiritual. Love imitates the Master who washed His disciples’ feet (John 13); who “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45); who “although He existed in the form of God, did nor regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:6-7); who “though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). “Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

Love Is Not Rude

I enjoy political debate, but I rarely watch political forums on television. Most of them make my blood boil. Why? Because instead of rational discussion, most of them feature people interrupting each other, shouting each other down, and using manners that wouldn’t be tolerated in a kindergarten classroom.

Sometimes I think common courtesy has gone the way of the dinosaur. It seems as though folks are increasingly rude and insensitive to one another. You can hardly go to a restaurant, a grocery store, or a little league ball game without seeing or hearing people treat each other with disrespect.

The apostle Paul says that love “does not behave rudely” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Love, because it cares about others, is concerned with common courtesy and respectable behavior. It doesn’t “put on airs,” but it does try never to be inconsiderate or offensive.

Rudeness in effect says, “I don’t love you because I don’t care how my conduct affects you.” It comes in many forms: crude comments or actions that embarrass; slurs and insults that hurt; treatment of others that disregards their feelings or convictions. Even much of what passes for humor these days falls in this category. And rudeness isn’t just the world’s problem; disciples struggle with it. When we’re contemptuous or unkind toward those who disagree with us, it is not love. When we disrupt worship (by talking, passing notes, trimming fingernails, etc.) instead of participating, it is not love.

Love extends to others every basic kindness and courtesy. Love treats others as it would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).

Love Does Not Brag

In Paul’s grand description of love, eight of the fifteen characteristics he lists are negatives. That is, what love doesn’t do is as significant as what it does.

“Love does not brag and is not arrogant” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Here are two things that love doesn’t do, but pride does. The first denotes the speech or action of pride, the second its attitude. The root of Paul’s word rendered “arrogant” refers to a bellows that is filled with air (so the KJV “puffed up” is quite accurate). Pride gives one an inflated sense of his own importance, which is reflected in how he talks and acts toward others.

Love is humble. Conceit wants to assert its superiority over others; love esteems others better than self (Philippians 2:3). God warns each of us “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3).

Many things appeal to our pride and can make us arrogant:

• Knowledge can do it—even spiritual knowledge. Paul warned, “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies [literally, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up]” (1 Corinthians 8:1). A disciple needs to grow in knowledge, but it must never become an excuse for him to look down or talk down to others.

• Wealth can do it. God warns the rich “not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but…to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:17-18). It’s been estimated that one third of the world’s population can’t afford to buy shoes. We are the rich, folks.

• Ability can do it. Just as one disciple can envy another who has more “talents,” one can be puffed up toward another who has fewer. It appears some at Corinth had this problem (see 1 Corinthians 12:12f). Pride inflates one’s self-worth; love considers the worth of others.

Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14) shows the danger of becoming boastful about our own righteousness. Do we brag about how spiritual we are? Do we try to make others feel inferior? That kind of self-righteous arrogance is inexcusable; it betrays not spiritual greatness, but spiritual immaturity. Love knows that greatness in the kingdom comes through humility and service. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Love Does Not Envy

How does it make you feel to see someone else do well? Does the answer depend on whether you’ve experienced a similar success yourself? Rejoicing at another person’s blessings isn’t hard if you feel blessed, too.

But at times watching somebody else prosper makes you feel sick inside. Like when another person succeeds where you’ve failed. Or when he has a blessing, a talent, or an opportunity that you don’t. “What makes him deserve that?” you complain. “Why him and not me?”

Sometimes the good fortune of another can really get us steamed. The New Testament word usually translated “jealous” reflects the same idea—it comes from a root that means “to boil.” Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 13:4 and says that love “does not envy.”

Envy is a self-destructive emotion. Proverbs 14:30 calls it “rottenness to the bones.” It eats away at a person’s spirit and makes him bitter, resentful, and vindictive. No wonder God says envy and jealousy are “works of the flesh” which will cause many to forfeit heaven (Galatians 5:19-21).

Unfortunately, not all of the damage inflicted by envy is internal. Envy is difficult to keep confined to mere thoughts and feelings, because it wants to “level the playing field.” If someone else has what we don’t, envy wants to make him suffer for it. It wants to lash out at him, to say or do something that will hurt him and take joy away from his success.

People do evil things when they’re consumed with envy. Cain murdered his own brother out of jealousy (Genesis 4:1-8). It drove Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery (Genesis 37). Even Pilate could perceive the envy which stirred up the Jewish leaders against Jesus (Matthew 27:18). James warned, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16).

Envy is at its worst when it turns members of the Lord’s body against each other. It wreaked havoc at Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:3), and it can do so today. One preacher is jealous of another who has baptized more people or holds more meetings. One brother envies another he thinks is more talented or more knowledgeable. One sister is embittered toward another who excels in hospitality. A brother who wants to run things covets the position of the elders. An entire congregation resents another across town that is growing faster. Caught up in our petty jealousy, we turn away from our God-given work and focus on snipping at each other. Lost souls are neglected. Elders and preachers must put their duties on hold in order to referee squabbles. The church’s reputation suffers. And Satan laughs. “But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15).

Renowned conductor Leonard Bernstein was once asked what is the hardest instrument in an orchestra to play. Without hesitation he replied, “Second fiddle!” God’s graciousness toward others can be hard for our human pride to swallow. But remember, love puts the good of others above self and the cause of Christ above all else. It knows that we are God’s stewards, whether entrusted with little or much (remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25). Instead of fuming over someone else’s blessings, love tries to stir him up to use those blessings for God’s glory. The way of love is encouragement, not envy. It will “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).

Love Is Kind

When the Holy Spirit tells us that “love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4), He means more than just having a sweet disposition. Remember, every description of love in this chapter involves action. To be kind literally means “to show oneself useful.” It is more than being nice; it is carrying out useful deeds to help others. Because love seeks the good of the other person, it makes every effort to promote that good. When love sees a need in someone else, it uses itself up to meet that need. Thus Paul speaks of the “kindness” of God in His mercy toward us (Titus 3:4). Our need is redemption, and God has sacrificed freely to provide it.

Being kind doesn’t imply that we should passively let ourselves be “used” (manipulated) by others, but that we should actively look for ways we can be “useful” to them. And our kindness shouldn’t be limited to those who are kind to us. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?...And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47). Just as longsuffering endures ill treatment from others, kindness repays them only with good. “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone...‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21). Love is kind, regardless of whether the other person deserves it, appreciates it, or repays it.

While our kindness should be unlimited, nowhere should it be more evident than toward our fellow disciples (see Galatians 6:10). God expects His people to go out of their way to meet each other’s needs. Even in a church full of problems, like Corinth? Yes, especially there! Loving kindness may not cure all of a congregation’s troubles, but a lack of it is sure to compound them.

Doing things for the good of others is good for us. It gives us something constructive to do with our time. It helps us forget our own troubles. It makes it much harder to fuss and squabble (which may be one reason Colossians 3:14 calls love “the perfect bond of unity”). Kindness lets us make a real difference in other people’s lives. And most of all, it makes us more like Jesus.

Love Is Patient

In 1 Corinthians 13:4 Paul says that love is “patient.” Older translations say it “suffers long”—the term literally means to be “long-tempered.” It depicts self-restraint in the face of provocation. It can refer to patience with circumstances, but it is mostly used of patience with people (remember, it is love we’re talking about). Many, if not most, of the trials we face come from our dealings with our fellow men.

People sometimes mistreat us—even our brothers and sisters in Christ may do it. How we respond makes all the difference. Among the ancient Greeks it was considered a virtue to refuse to tolerate insult or injury, to repay every wrong done. The same philosophy prevails in our own time, especially in a nation where so many are concerned with their “rights” above anything else. The sheer number of lawsuits in our society shows that folks aren’t inclined to be “longsuffering” toward any insult or injury, whether intentional or accidental, whether real or imagined. Love, on the other hand, puts up with a lot. Why? Because love is concerned with the other fellow, not me. Love seeks the good of its object; and what good can I bestow by losing my temper and lashing out, even if I think it’s deserved?

Picture the Savior, after all his mistreatment, hanging on the cross, pleading with God to forgive them (Luke 23:34). “And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats” (1 Peter 2:23). Picture Stephen, who, even as the stones were flying, asked God not to charge his murderers with their sin (Acts 7:60). No retaliation, no bitterness, no revenge. That’s love.

People don’t have to resort to outright abuse to try our patience, either. Sometimes all it takes is an honest mistake or some well-intentioned bungling. Admit it: We can get upset over some pretty silly things. And often it’s with people we care about: our spouses, our children, our brothers and sisters in the Lord. That sort of impatience is a sign of self-centeredness. In contrast, think of how longsuffering Jesus was with his apostles, even though they tried his patience on occasion (see John 14:8-9; Matthew 14:25-31). Seeking the good of another means being patient with his shortcomings.

The way of love is longsuffering. We need patience with our spouses, with our children, with our fellow saints, with everyone we meet. We must rise above the worldly inclination to be short-tempered and vengeful. Jesus’ people are to walk “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

"Let All You Do Be Done In Love"

(The first in a series)

Love is a mighty broad word in our language. We apply it to everything from friends to football to mashed potatoes to God Himself. Without a clearer definition we will surely miss the point of the Bible’s teaching about love.

The Greeks had several different words for several different kinds of love:
• Eros described the physical, sensual, passionate love between the sexes—a love that tends toward the satisfaction of one’s own appetites.
• Storge referred to love of family, especially that between parents and children.
• Philia was the tender affection shared by people who have something in common—friends, family, even fellow humans.
• Agape, unlike the other three, described a love that transcends mere emotion, one that is an act of the will which seeks only the good of the one loved.

All these varieties of love have their place in human life. But it’s the last one that is most forcefully commended to us in Scripture. It is a love like God’s love toward us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This love moved God to meet our greatest need, in spite of our utter unworthiness, at awful personal cost. That’s the very sort of love Jesus commands us to have for one another (John 13:34-35).

While God never technically defines this love, He gives us a crystal clear picture of it in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Instead of expressing it in abstract terms, His apostle Paul depicts love in action. It may not be obvious in English, but all fifteen descriptions of love in these verses are in verb form. As one of my teachers put it, “If love were a person, this is what it would do.”

Read this inspired description of the character of love. And notice the importance placed on it (verses 1-3). If this love doesn’t motivate us, then no gift, no deed, no sacrifice is worthwhile. We need to understand it and seize it for ourselves. Without it, we can never really be like God. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).