Is this true definition of love?
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
{1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a)
Wow! Really….. I mean, REALLY???? Is this the true definition of love? If it is, well then, I am doomed!!! How can I be all of these things??? Do all of these things???? It’s impossible, definitely impossible!!!
I can tell you right now, right off the bat, I am not a patient person. I am anxious and I hate to wait. I’m not one that believes it is best to arrive early to something. NOOOO, I like to show up right at the time things are supposed to start which means that most often I am late. I do factor in appropriate travel time but I rarely allow for setbacks or mishaps along the way. I know it is unfair to those who wait for me time and time again. I know this is NOT love. I do apologize from the bottom of my heart. I continue to work at it.
So how do we do it? If you look at these verses, you can see that even though they are there to instruct, they actually really DESCRIBE! Think about it…..look at it….Yes! You got it! Thank goodness, we do not have to go this alone because Jesus is all these things in our stead. Jesus is love and through and only through him can we bring these things into our hearts. I know a lot of kind people, genuinely kind people but, they are not kind all of the time, neither are they kind through and through. We cannot help but be irritable sometimes and believe all things and hope all things, yeah, right! Jesus is God and he is truth. He is belief and He is hope and he endured suffering in its truest form for us. Jesus is Love and has taken the burden of perfection from us.
We’re not off the hook though. Application! Application! Application! We must strive to apply what we know about love to our own lives, over and over again. We are to be Christ-like and so we must practice these principles daily and with gusto. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us – even love! We live through His grace and thank goodness, we abide in His love and no matter how difficult we may find it to practice and demonstrate love as Jesus does…He will most certainly, with perfection, love us through eternity!
