“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
This is one of the most well known passages of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. The love in our text in the Greek is agape. To agape means to take pleasure in, and long for. So what is the believer to take pleasure in and long for? We are to take pleasure in the things that Christ takes pleasure in, and long for the things that Christ longs for.
For the believer to agape literally means preferring to live through Christ. To agape means actively doing what the Lord prefers. To agape means that Christ is living his life through the believer.
In a world that has hyper-emphasized personal preference, personal opinions, personal tastes, personal rights, this is a good corrective.
In a world that is as divided as our’s, this is a necessary corrective.
I want you to read the text again. Except this time, wherever the word love appears instead put yourself instead so that it reads:
- I am patient
- I am kind
- I am not envious
- I am not boastful
- I am not arrogant
- etc.
Take a moment to write out this passage in the above way on a piece of paper and make it your prayer for today.
It is my prayer we Christ-followers at the Little Church and Lakewoodgrace are known as agape people.
Praxis: Faith in Action 