TODAY IN THE WORD
Spanish Renaissance artist El Greco once said, “I hold the imitation of color to be the greatest difficulty in art.” If art is likened to life, then the imitation of Christ is our greatest difficulty. As with color, embodying the nuances, simplicity, and grandeur of Jesus is not intuitive to our sinful nature. To love like Christ can only be accomplished by the work of our Creator God through His Holy Spirit in us. First Corinthians 13:3 tells us that love is the essential characteristic of followers of Jesus, and our passage today paints the ultimate description of God’s love.

Verse 4 opens with “love is.” Remember our study of 1 John 4:8-10, “God is love,” and let this be the backdrop for today’s passage. Verses 4 through 7 enumerate characteristics of love: what love does and does not do, how love functions and what it avoids. Comparing different Bible translations and paraphrases helps to enliven this familiar passage. For example, The New Living Translation reads: “[Love] does not demand its own way. It is not irritable.” The Message paraphrase reads: “Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self . . . Isn’t always ‘me first’ . . . Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel . . . Always looks for the best.” Notice how the ways of love all depend upon confidence in God’s promises in new creation and the future renewal of all things (v. 7). Love is forward looking; it sees beyond what is to what will be (cf. Gal. 5:5-6).

“Love never fails” precisely because God is eternal and God is love. All true human loving must be grounded in God. This is one way we “participate in the divine nature” and imitate Christ (2 Peter 1:3-4). One necessary component of love is that it always involves others; we cannot love unless we are in relationship. Remember that our passage today follows 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 about the body of Christ. In illuminating love in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul strengthens the community of Christ followers.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today’s passage is a fixture in wedding ceremonies, but let us not be mistaken: 1 Corinthians 13 is not only about the relationship between a husband and wife. It describes God’s love that should permeate our relationships with all people. Ponder the characteristics of love listed, perhaps in a translation different from the one you regularly read. Invite the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to one characteristic in particular that He wants to shape in you; consider how it manifests in specific relationships in your life.

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