Loving Like God

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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

I have made the comment before that I don’t even really know what love is.  What I mean by that, is what we are taught by the world to believe love is based on the fleeting feelings, wind-swept romance, and heart-shaped cards is so empty and disappointing compared to what love is supposed to really be.

Love is patient and kind.

I say I love, but I am always saying “hurry up”.  I am always saying “I can’t believe you did that wrong again”.  I am always using unkind words to shame others into change.  My love is typically neither patient nor kind.

Love does not envy or boast.

I see “in love” couples, the kind that are so sickening because it is obvious they truly adore one another, and on the outside I scoff while on the inside I deeply covet.  I try to play up my own strengths so I seem more worthy of love.  My love can be both envious and boastful.

Love is not arrogant or rude.

I pull out the rude and arrogant card when I’m too insecure to admit I’m not always right, or don’t always have it all together, or that someone else has played more honorably than me.  My love is certainly capable of rude arrogance.

Love does not insist on its own way.

I may do things your way, but secretly I will be convinced that my way would have been better.  As far as it rests with me, my way is best.

Love is not irritable or resentful.

I am always irritated by something, usually the little no-see-um things that pile up in a swarm around my heart.  And while I may have forgotten the details or the moment that caused strife, the resentment coats around my insides like tar.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

I am guilty of wrongdoing every time I drink of the bitter water of the ideal of worldly love.  The truth is that God never intended that kind of love be the standard we set our lives to.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I can bear a burden and endure a hardship, but asking me to do that while maintaining belief and hope is a different thing altogether.  My love does not look like a marathon, but a series of gasping, winded sprints that ends up heaving on the sidelines.

And yet, for all of that, there is still hope.

If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:12-21 (Holman Christian)

I may fall short of the mark with my love for others, but I have a shining example to follow.  God loves me with a perfect love, and because God is in me, I can love others in the same manner.  There is no reason to fear, no cause to doubt, and no need to hold my love to the expectations of the world.

Love believes.  Love hopes.  Love endures.

I want to learn to love like God.