Just as Hebrews 11 is the “faith chapter” and I Corinthians 15 is the “resurrection chapter” so I Corinthians 13 is the “love chapter.”  I want to give a definition of love because we might not be aware of the intensity of this word when it’s used in this context in the scriptures.  Here is what David Stern writes in The Jewish New Testament Commentary:  “The word for “love” is “agape,” defined in the New Testament as giving of and from oneself; love expresses itself in acts of benevolence, kindness and mercy in which heart, mind and will are united because they are motivated and empowered by God.  Such love goes beyond what one can generate of oneself, because it has its origin in God.  When such love is experienced by one person from another, the experience is of God’s love channeled through that other.” (Emphasis mine.)

Is that the way you love?  This is not your typical “warm fuzzy!”  It’s a love that “goes beyond what one can generate of oneself, because it has its origin in God.”  This is what it looks like.

“Love is patient,

love is kind and

is not jealous;

love does not brag and

is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly;

it does not seek its own,

is not provoked,

does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails . . .”

–I Corinthians 13:4-8–

I want to crawl under a rock when I read this!  There is no way humanly possible to love like this.  And that is precisely the point.  We so need God’s power.  How do you measure up?   I want to encourage you to keep on trying to love the way God says it should be.  As soon as you come to the end of your striving you’ll see just how desperate we are for the life and power of God to accomplish this in us.  Or you could just believe what He says and yield to His life and love and power.  It sure beats the futility of striving.

The Divine Measurement.  How are you doing?

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