2022_06_13 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- 1 Corinthians 13-14
This week’s reading includes some of the most recognizable passages in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. Often used in weddings, Paul’s words present a challenging way of life. Look at these words:
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Wow. And that’s only part of the chapter. Paul puts special emphasis on all that he says in chapter 13 by beginning chapter 14 with “Let love be your highest goal!” (NLT). The NIV translation says, “Follow the way of love….” The Message says, “Go after love as if your life depended on it – because it does.” The Good News Bible UK says it this way, “It is love, then, that you should strive for.” Out of all the things God could desire of us, why is love so vital?
The book of Psalms uses the word love 174 times, often in reference to God. The apostle John tells us in 1 John 4 that God IS love. He says we are to love one another because love comes from God. He goes on to say that if we say we love God but hate a fellow believer, we are liars. Paul lists love as the first of the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5). We are to be imitators of God; He loves, so we should too.
Spend some time this week examining love’s role in your life. How would you rate yourself on patience and kindness? How about jealousy, pride, rudeness, irritability, and holding a grudge? The really challenging part is that Paul is speaking of love as a way of life, not just an action you do now and then. We will never look more like Jesus than when we love.
16 “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach