"Love suffers long and is kind; love
does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not
rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)
The words above are familiar words. If any of you have been married in a church, you
have most likely heard these words recited at your wedding; they were recited
at my wedding. It wasn't until recently
that I began to ponder the weight of these words. Theologian R.C. Sproul had some comments
about this passage. He said that most Christians
look at this passage and think of its beauty and power; most Christians love
this passage. Dr. Sproul says that
whenever he considers this passage, he runs in fear. Now why would a well respected theologian and
bible teacher react that way to this passage?
Dr. Sproul says the reason he fears this passage is because of his, or
anyone else’s, inability to achieve this standard of love. This is the way God loves and this is the way
He wants us to love.
In this short passage, the apostle Paul lists 15
characteristics of agape love. In
brief they are:
·
suffers long
·
is kind
·
does not envy
·
does not parade itself
·
is not puffed up
·
does not behave rudely
·
does not seek it own
·
is not provoked
·
thinks no evil
·
does not rejoice in iniquity
·
rejoices in the truth
·
bears all things
·
believes all things
·
hopes all things
·
endures all things
That's quite a list! I
go down that list and can't think of a time in my life where I haven't broken
every one of those points. Every time you
put yourself before others you are not displaying godly love. Every time you behave rudely, you are not
displaying godly love. Every time you
are unkind, you are not displaying godly love.
Every time you are provoked to anger, you are not displaying godly
love. Every time you act boastful or
with pride, you are not displaying godly love.
Do you get the picture? No human
being can ever live up to this standard; no human being can perfectly keep even
one of these characteristics much less all 15.
This leaves us in a hopeless situation doesn't it? If this is the way God loves, and if this is
the way He wants us to love, how can we possibly achieve this? Can God at least provide us an earthly
example of how this love is supposed to look?
Glad you asked! Jesus Christ was
the perfect living example of this kind of love. He lived out this example during His earthly
life. Did Jesus ever think evil? Did He ever behave rudely? Was He ever provoked? Did He not suffer long? What was His first reaction toward His
executioners while hanging on the cross?
He asked God to forgive them their ignorance. I'm not sure I could ever be that
magnanimous.
The happy ending to this saga is that although through our
own power and effort we cannot possibly love like this, through the power of
the Holy Spirit in us we can love like this.
The job of the Holy Spirit is to conform us to the image of Christ and
that includes the ability to love like He did.
And thanks to the atoning death of Jesus and our faith in that event, we
have the Holy Spirit working in us. The
important thing to remember is that God doesn't lay on us all these
unattainable standards so He can sit on His heavenly throne and watch us
flounder about. These are His standards;
they speak of the insurmountable perfection of God. For God to lessen His standards would be for
God to misrepresent His perfection (which He cannot do). The reaction of sinful humanity to God's standard
of perfection should be: "OK God,
this is a little hard for me to achieve, is there some way You can help me with
this?" God never rejects
anyone who places their trust in Him and asks Him for help. "The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart--these, O God, You will not despise."
(Psalm 51:17).