Love suffers long…
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up (1 Corinthians 13:4).
It is touching that Paul first describes love as patient and kind. This also brings into focus Paul’s personal experience of the love of Christ. Jesus said to him from heaven, “Why do you persecute me?” The Lord Jesus was simultaneously revealing His love for His church on earth and His love for the one who was persecuting it. Someone has said, “The proof of love is its capacity to suffer for the object of its affection.” Paul later writes, “When the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared …” (Titus 3:4). This was seen in the Person of Christ here in this world. And it is known by every one of us when it dawns in all its brightness and healing power in our hearts.
God’s love, displayed in patience and kindness, does not cease. It was there before we knew it, it was there at our salvation, and it never stops being active towards us. In our relationships we discover how difficult it is to bear with people even when we love them dearly. It is also challenging to be consistently kind, especially when our love is rebuffed. Paul is not saying love is easy; he is telling us what it is. Love is often rejected, but real love remains consistent. Patience is characteristic of the way God deals with us. In the words of 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God is love and Christians are to manifest the love of their Father by showing patience and kindness towards each other and towards everyone.
After beginning to describe what love is, Paul next begins to describe what it is not. He starts by telling us love does not envy. He goes right to the heart of evil. Satan envied God. Satan brought envy into the hearts of our first parents. Envy is about wanting what we do not have, and what we could never have. Envy is about self. Love looks outwards, envy looks inwards. Envy is the force which would seek to rob others and reward me. Love is about blessing others at my expense.
Love does not “parade” itself. The Lord Jesus condemned the Pharisees for taking every opportunity to let others know about their righteousness. They “paraded” what they considered were their good deeds. It is human nature to want others to know what we have done. But love does not need to display itself or seek admiration. It has the humility which Paul brings before our hearts in the Person of the Lord Jesus in Philippians 2:
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (vv. 3-8).
We learn to love from the One who is love.
