Chapter 13
If I speak with eloquent words of men and even angels...and do not love the way you define it...well, then, I might as well be as sounding brass or clanging cymbal...
And if I speak words of God...understood deep mysteries, had Spirit revealed knowledge and faith that could move mountains...yet have not love the way you define it...normally I am rejected, ignored and treated as if I am nothing. For after all, if the word spoken hits a nerve, there's no way that I am speaking for the Lord...I am judging, judging, judging...
And though I have laid down my life for the sake of the Gospel, serving and giving until exhaustion overtakes me, putting your needs above mine in thought, word and deed, yet do not love the way you define it...the only thing I have gained is your snippy attitude...
Love is patient...I am to have the utmost patience and tolerance for whatever you do or say...or even what you 'infer'...
Love is kind...I defer to your choices...your topics...giving, giving, giving and making sure that you are filled up...
It does not envy...I am to sit politely by with a demure smile, devoid of any emotion, and full of support for you as you list all your plans and activities, never once thinking that I might be overwhelmed with loneliness or in need...
It does not boast...still sitting politely by with a demure smile, I listen to your list of accomplishments, as you interrupt me when I try to speak, making sure that your words are the center of the conversation...
It is not proud...by now, I have learned the art of demureness...as I speak the words of God in obedience with tears streaming while you rise up in anger and pride...
It is not rude...I am not to respond or answer your emails or letters full of judgment and accusations...
It is not self-seeking...whenever, wherever I am, the understanding is that your needs and your wants always come first; if I have a need or talk abut our experiences, I am being self-centered...
It is not easily angered...demureness now an art form, I am to allow you to say or do anything, even calling me names when I have been anything other than accepting and full of tolerance...
It keeps no records of wrongs...I am to overlook this one, as you inform me of my faults and how I have missed the mark with God, all the while expecting me to walk in love as you quit talking to me for years...
Does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth...I disregard your smugness when I stumble in a fault...and truth? You can't handle the Truth!!...
Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...walking in the love that you define, I am to always protect your feelings, trusting and hoping in you, and persevere and stand in love, as you define it, when you refuse to do the same for me...
Love never fails...I am expected to continue in this fashion, ad nauseam...
And now, for the piece de resistance...
Now these three remain...faith, hope and love...the greatest of these is love...to which I am told time and time again that I do not have...if I do not walk in love as defined by you...
I find it most interesting that what comes to mind when you hear the words 'Chapter 13' is bankruptcy, which is defined as the state of being or becoming bankrupt...utter ruin, failure, depletion. As the people in the churches across this land continue to walk in and expect love as defined by their own self-focused wants and needs, not laying down their lives for each other, but putting themselves above the other, in constant neediness and competition, the resultant fruit is spiritual bankruptcy and compromise. It is prevalent...it is widespread...it is a failure...and it looks alive and religious...for [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]...(2 Timothy 3:5, Amplified Bible).
But God always has a remnant...
Chapter 13 - 1 Corinthians
If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose) and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.
Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]...
And so faith, hope, love abide [faith - conviction and belief respecting man's relations to God and divine things; hope - joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love - true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest if love...1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13, Amplified Bible.
Patti Campbell-Jensvold 7/2009