Daily Devotions

Daily Devotions

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.” vss. 4-6

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Having presented love as the more excellent way, Paul now proceeds, in one succinct sentence, to define it. We’re familiar with his definition because we’ve heard it read at countless wedding ceremonies as encapsulating what the bible has to say about love. We can’t say it’s a bad choice. It is nice to say something about love at a wedding, and these words are surely better than what is read at some. Of course Paul wasn’t talking about married love at all—he gets into that in a radical way in his letter to the Ephesians. But here he’s describing the way in which members of the body will treat one another, and his words are beautiful. We will be patient and kind, not arrogant or boastful, and not insist on doing things our own way. Paul’s reflections were likely based on experience and his insights are familiar to all who read them. He’d been around irritable and resentful people and he knew how wearisome they are. He’d heard folks rejoice at salacious gossip that exposes the faults of others. Oh how we love to hear about the sins of others! And he knew how precious it is when we can count on others to tell the truth! How wonderful it is to love and to be loved!

Thought for the Day: Where is my loving community?

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