Maybe you heard about the guy who fell in love with an opera singer. He hardly knew her, since his only view of the singer was through binoculars—from the third balcony. But he was convinced he could live “happily ever after” married to a voice like that. He scarcely noticed she was considerably older than he. Nor did he care that she walked with a limp. Her mezzo-soprano voice would take them through whatever might come. After a whirlwind romance and a hurry-up ceremony, they were off for their honeymoon together.
She began to prepare for their first night together. As he watched, his chin dropped to his chest. She plucked out her glass eye and plopped it into a container on the nightstand. She pulled off her wig, ripped off her false eyelashes, yanked out her dentures, unstrapped her artificial leg, and smiled at him as she slipped off her glasses that hid her hearing aid. Stunned and horrified, he gasped, “For goodness sake, woman, sing, sing, SING!”
This chapter is not a definition of love, but rather a display of how love is to make a difference each and every day of our lives.
12:31 Paul is showing the superiority of Love to all gifts
Eloquence was greatly admired in the first century,
It was a statement of hyperbole concerning exalted eloquence, which if void of Love might be momentarily electrifying like a clash of cymbal but then vanished just as quickly.
vs.2 , 3 Even self-sacrifice can be self-centered and even the ultimate sacrifice is futile without love.
Love is the greatest! It’s essential in our service for Christ. Without it, we ACCOMPLISH nothing, we ARE nothing, and we are PROFITED nothing.
“Love is...” Patient
“Charity suffereth long” We are willing to bear offenses and suffer their ill-treatment without attempting to retaliate.
A good illustration of Christlike patience is seen in the life of Abraham Lincoln. From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic, and enemy, who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton. Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was “low cunning clown” and “the original gorilla.” He said, “it was ridiculous for explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla when they could find one easily in Springfield Illinois.” Lincoln never responded to such slander; he never retaliated in the least. And when as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton. When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, “Because he is the best man for the job.”
Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin’s bullet murdered the president in a theater. Lincoln’s body was carried off to another room. Stanton came and, looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.” Stanton’s animosity had finally been broken.. How? By Lincoln’s patient, long suffering, non-retaliatory love.
No matter how much love is ill-treated or scorned, how much it is ignored or neglected, how little return or requital is made of it, yet it suffer all these things and stays kind.
“Love is...” Kind
To be kind is the active outworking of love. To suffer long is the passive side. “Kind” = to be mild, gracious, easy on other people. It means volunteer to share the burden, help carry the load.
The Sunday School Times told of an elderly Christian who was a shut-in. She said, “I have two daughters who take turns cleaning my small home. Jean comes and makes everything shine. Yet she leaves the impression that I’m an awful burden. But when Mary comes, no matter how dull the day or how low my spirit, she’s so cheery that my heart is tuned to singing. Above all, she makes me feel that she loves me. They’re both good Christians, you understand, but what makes the difference in their attitudes! Mary has the extra touch of grace that this old world so badly needs. She does everything with a loving heart.”
What is our attitude in helping others? Do we assist people grudgingly, making them feel like a burden, or do we demonstrate heartfelt concern that leaves them uplifted and blessed?
I’ve had a happy marriage for many years because I whisper three little words in her ear, twice a week: “Let’s eat out!” — Laurie Baker, Better Families, Vol. 18, No. 11, November, 1994.
Patience and kindness are directly parallel to the two dominant aspects of God’s love, which are “mercy” and “grace.” Mercy means that God does not give us the bad things, the judgments, that we deserve for our sins. Grace, on the other hand, means that God does give us good things, blessings, that we don’t deserve.
Patience is a matter of passively taking the bad from others that you may not deserve, kindness is a matter of giving the good to others whether they deserve it or not.
“Love isn’t...” Envious
Mark 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
Acts 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
How we need the spirit manifested by Sir Walter Scott. When Lord Byron’s poems were first published, a reviewer who remained anonymous at the time wrote the following: “In the presence such genius, it can no longer be considered that Sir Walter Scott is the leading poet of his day.”
Sir Walter Scott wrote that.
“Love isn’t...” Self-promoting
“charity vaunteth not itself,” Love does not desire to show off
“Love maketh no parade”
There are two types of people in the world—those who come into a room and say, "Here I am!" and those who say, "Ah, there you are!"
—James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 41.
“Love isn’t...” Self-exalting
“is not puffed up,” “I’m better than others” makes comparisons,
Inflated ideas of his own importance.
The Corinthians had no monopoly on pride though the seemed to. The verb physioo occurs only 7 times in the N.T., 6 of which are found in this letter.
“Love isn’t...” Rude
1 Cor 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly,” Paul may have had in mind the way an arrogant, loveless, proud, self-exalting individual treats his neighbor. Proud unloving people are users and abusers.
“Love isn’t...” Self-seeking
“seeketh not her own,” preoccupied with I and me. He does not grasp for his own rights. He doesn’t put down his neighbor by elevating himself.
Innsbruck—In 1964, Italy’s Eugenio Monti and Sergio Siorpaes were heavily favored in the two-man bobsled event. But as they awaited their second run, the lightly regarded British team of Tony Nash and Robin Dixon was in a state of despair. After a sensational first run, their sled had broken an axle bolt, and it seemed certain they would have to drop out.
Monti, his second run already completed, acted swiftly. He stripped the bolt from his own sled and offered it to Nash. In one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Olympics, the British team went on to win the gold medal, while the sportsmanlike Monti finished third.
Four years later, Monti drove both his two-and four-man sleds to Olympic victory.
—Bud Greenspan in Parade
“Love isn’t...” Irritable
“is not easily provoked,” = “doesn’t have a short fuse” doesn’t get angry a the slightest provocation. A loving person is not touchy you don’t have to be careful not to offend, like walking on eggshells.
Maranatha Magazine carried the following humorous story about criticism: “The wife of a hard-to-please husband was determined to try her best to satisfy him for just one day. ‘Darling,’ she asked, ‘what would you like for breakfast this morning?’ He growled, ‘Coffee and toast, grits and sausage, and two eggs— one scramble and one fried.’ She soon had the food on the table and waited for a word of praise. After a quick glance, he exclaimed, ‘Well, if you didn’t scramble the wrong egg!”
“Love isn’t...” Bitter
“thinketh no evil;” Logizomai It’s a term that was sometimes used by bookkeepers, and it may carry the idea of keeping a ledger. When love is present we don’t keep a “scorecard” doesn’t become bitter.
In On This Day by Carl D. Windsor, the page for Valentine’s Day includes this anecdote: "Even the most devoted couple will experience a ’stormy’ bout once in a while. A grandmother, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary, once told the secret of her long and happy marriage. ’On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook,’ she said.
"A guest asked the woman what some of the faults she had chosen to overlook were. The grandmother replied, ’To tell you the truth, my dear, I never did get around to listing them. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, Lucky for him that’s one of the ten!’ "
—Leadership, Vol. 11, no. 2.
In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.
—Michael Williams, Morganfield, Kentucky. Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 4.
“Love isn’t...” Jubilant in Tragedy
1 Cor 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity,” Gary Hart, Jimmy Swaggert, Our Golf games.
“Love is...” Jubilant in Triumph
“but rejoiceth in the truth;”
“Love is...” Protective
“1 Cor 13:7 Beareth all things,” = “overoofeth” It means to prevent the storms from getting at those who are on the inside of the building, and keeps them dry and warm. “Love has eyelids as well as eyes.”
There is an oft-told story about the artist who painted Alexander the Great. The young warrior had been scarred on his forehead in battle and the artist wanted to omit that touch of ugliness from the portrait. Yet, at the same time, he wanted to be honest and portray an exact likeness of his beloved emperor.
What did he do? He had Alexander pose with his elbow leaning on a table and his forefinger resting in a thoughtful way on his brow. The finger, of course, hid the scar, and yet the artist had been honest in what he painted.
All of us have scars. Don’t you want someone’s finger of love to cover yours? Then shouldn’t you do the same for others?
Several years ago, Coach Joe Paterno and his Penn State football team were playing Alabama, in the Sugar Bowl, for the national championship. They probably would have won, but they had a touchdown called back because there was a twelfth man on the field. After the game, Paterno was asked to identify the player. Coach Paterno said, ‘It’s only a game. I have no intention of ever identifying the boy. He just made a mistake.’
“Love is...” Trusting
1 Cor 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Always believes the best about someone, believes they are innocent until proven guilty.
Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands. When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. “You’re running around with other women,” she charged.
“You’re being unreasonable,” Adam responded. “You’re the only woman on earth.”
The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest. It was Eve.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Adam demanded.
“Counting your ribs,” said Eve.
“Love is...” Hopeful
“hopeth all things,” In spite of disappointments in others, it keeps its eye on the prospect of a good outcome.
Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend. Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Nathaniel, a heartbroken man, went home to tell his wife he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse. she surprised him with an exclamation of joy.
“Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can write your book!”
“Yes,” replied the man, with sagging confidence. “and what shall we live on while I am writing it?”
To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money.
“Where on earth did you get that?” he exclaimed.
“I have always known you were a man of genius,” she told him. “I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week, out of the money you gave me for housekeeping, I saved a little bit. So here is enough to last us for one whole year.”
From her trust and confidence came one of he greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter.
When most people who’ve achieved great things in their lives tell their stories, they mention those who encouraged them along the way. —Act of Love, David Jeremiah
“Love is...” Enduring
“Endures without limit.”
When the great but dissolute Russian poet A. S. Pushkin finally married in 1831, it was, he said, the 113th time he had fallen in love! Obviously, he didn’t really know the meaning of the word. Perhaps it was the 113th time he had fallen into like or lust! True love is a commitment that two people make to one another, not a hole in the ground into which they happen to fall.
—Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
This chapter is not a definition of love, but rather a display of how love is to make a difference each and every day of our lives.
