Have you ever had someone in your life whose claim to love you was not supported by their actions? Instinctively, we know that love looks like something – but what?
In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus is asked the following question;“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
God values love above all else so what does He say love should look like?
What began as a simple Instagram post turned into an extensive study of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as I began replacing each description of love with its extended definition* from an online dictionary. What I learned is that God’s description of love is very complete.
Here is 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 rewritten with the meanings in place of the words used in scripture.
Love is PATIENT “able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.”
Love is KIND “generous, helpful, and thinking about other people’s feelings, not causing harm or damage.”
It does not ENVY “desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to [someone else].”
It does not BOAST “talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities.”
It is not PROUD “conscious of one’s own worthiness of honour and respect.”
It does not DISHONOUR OTHERS “act in a way that causes embarrassment, shame or disgrace to another. Love does not “damage another’s good character.”
It is not SELF-SEEKING “have concern for one’s own welfare and interests before those of others.”
It is not EASILY ANGERED “annoyed, displeased or hostile when we feel wronged or hurt.”
Love keeps no RECORD OF WRONGS “the sum of the past achievements or actions of a person; previous conduct or performance” that we have deemed unfair or unjust.
Love does not DELIGHT IN EVIL “seek pleasure, satisfaction or happiness in the absence of good, doing what is wrong or causing harm to others.”
But rejoices with THE TRUTH Although many will say that truth is relative, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the truth!
It always PROTECTS “covers or shields from exposure, injury, damage or destruction.”
Always TRUSTS “believes in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of.”
Always HOPES “expects and desires for a certain thing to happen.”
Always PERSERVERES “continues in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.”
God’s Word gives us the standard of love and wow, does He set the bar high! That’s because God IS love and without His presence in our lives, the standard is completely impossible to achieve. But with God…
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 It is only possible through and with God.
Although none of us will ever be perfect this side of heaven, we can try our best to ensure that our actions line up with the words we speak. When we tell someone we love them, we have a list of ways God wants us to show it; no chocolate, flowers or poems required!
The opposite is true as well when someone tells us they love us. Do their actions line up with how God says we are to be loved? Mistakes can be forgiven, even overlooked occasionally, but someone who continually acts unloving towards us may need a gentle reminder of what it means to love and be loved.
Beloved. Be loved. Be love.
After spending hours considering this short passage, it suddenly struck me what is so obviously missing from this description of love.
Love is NOT lust, passion and desire but the beautiful gift of humble service in our relationships with God and others. We hold our hands out not because of what we can get but what we can give.
Want to see a portrayal of Christ’s love for us? Click here.
XO, Heidi
*All definitions taken from dictionary.com, wikipedia.org, merriam-webster.com, and the Oxford online dictionary http://www.oed.com.
dear sister 