1 Corinthians 13
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails
1Corinthians13 is God’s commentary, His description of love. This is what love is as far as God is concerned. If God was to show up at church today this is how He would be. This is how He would look, talk, behave, relate and so forth. And because God is love, these 16 attributes that describe love also describe God.
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up”
1. Love suffers long.
“Love is never tired of waiting” BBE
God is patient with us. He waits long and He never gets tired of waiting for us. He is content to wait without losing His temper or becoming unpleasant.
2. Love is kind God is kind.
He is not rude, mean or harsh or unkind. He is gracious to us even when waiting for us. He is courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, tender and warm hearted. God is affectionate and is a very comfortable peaceful person. Peace is His nature.
3. Love does not envy
God is not jealous. When we are jealous we are never operating in the love of God. he doesn’t feel resentful when we prosper and do well.
Psalm35:27 tells us that He delights in our prosperity. Furthermore, God doesn’t feel jealous when someone or something else takes our focus away from Him. He can handle it. He is not overly protective and insecure. Jealousy is not a godly attribute.
4. Love does not parade itself.
“Love has no high opinion of itself” BBE
“Love doesn’t brag” WEB
He is not boastful. He is not a show off. GOD IS A HUMBLE GOD. Humility is a major trait of God. Jesus showed us the humility of God. He came to this earth not as the son of a king but as the son of a carpenter born in a manger instead of a palace. Furthermore, He accepted to dwell in a fallible, corruptible human body. And even then He didn’t choose the best human body. He was not handsome or macho or spectacular. He looked plain and ordinary.
“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Isa53:2
5. Love is not puffed up.
“love has no pride” BBE
God is not arrogant or conceited. He doesn't put on airs. He is who He is. He's not a hypocrite. He is not like most preachers who are pretenders and full of themselves.
“does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil”
6. Love does not behave unseemly.
“Acteth not unbecomingly” EB
“doesn’t behave itself inappropriately” WEB
“it is not rude (unmannerly) {and} does not act unbecomingly” AMP
He is never rude. Doesn’t behave inappropriately. God doesn’t embarrass us. He doesn’t behave in ways that are not consistent with established standards of morality or good manners. God doesn’t embarrass us or act in ways that are inappropriate. And yet there are several ministers and prophets today who make it their job to embarrass people and bring shame to people. This is not godly.
Furthermore many times most of us don’t have good manners and don’t know when certain behavior is inappropriate. Love has good manners.
7. Love seeketh not His own
“it takes no thought for itself” BBE “seeketh not her own things” EB
“doesn’t seek its own way” WEB
“Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights {or} its own way {for} it is not self-seeking” AMP
God is never selfish. He doesn't insist on His own rights. This is major failing for most of us.
Prov13:10 tells us that anytime we are in contention or strife with someone else it is because we are operating in pride and self-centeredness. It is all about us.
I have to be treated this way, feel this way, get this, want this, my rights. We depend on other people for joy, happiness and contentment. This is not how God is. God thinks of others and their needs first.
8. Love is not easily provoked.
“it is not quickly made angry” BBE
“it is not touchy {or} fretful {or} resentful” AMP
God is not quick to take offense. He is not touchy feely. Many of us are easily offended. Because someone looked at you in a certain way, spoke in a particular tone etc. Many of us are unpredictable. We have explosive anger. It doesn’t take too much to offend us and get us out of peace and harmony. And people fear us and are afraid of our temper. This is very carnal, selfish and ungodly.
God is not like this at all. He is very long suffering. It is very difficult to provoke Him to anger. He doesn’t lose His temper. He is predictable and you can be sure that at all times He is in perfect peace and harmony.
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