Hallelujah! Glory to God in heaven and on all the earth (Psalm 96:1ff; Isaiah 6:3; revelation 4:8).  Psalm 33:5 states that The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. We are so honored and privileged to be called the children of the Most High God (1 John 3:1). It is the Lord God who first loved us and chose us to be His children (1 John 4:19; Ephesians 1:4-6). God is love and He loves us all [He loves the entire world] (1 John 4:8) and He sent His only begotten Son to this world to practically show us how much He loves us (Isaiah 7:14; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). Jesus loved God and obeyed His commands (Luke 22:41-44; John 6:38), and He praised His glorious name: I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25a). According to Revelation 4:1-11, out of love and respect for God, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before Him who sits on the throne and gave glory, honor and thanks; and worshipped Him who lives for ever and ever. They praised God, saying: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being (Revelation 4:11). We are called to love God, obey Him, worship Him, and make Him known in all the earth. To glorify God means to accept and declare His holiness, His sovereignty, His majesty, His love, His faithfulness, His compassion and grace, His Omnipotence, His Omniscience, His Omnipresence, and so on. Without being loved by God unconditionally, it is impossible for us to either love God or love our neighbor because His love, His grace, and His mercy enables us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Love is the driving force that unites God with mankind and vice versa. Also, love is the force that unite mankind with one another as well as mankind with the other creations of God.

Although Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), is known as the Apostle of love, other apostles and several New Testament writers also talk a lot about love, especially about God’s unconditional love for mankind. Apostle Paul, once an active opposer of Christian faith who then became a defender of the Christian faith (Acts 8:1; 9:1-31; 18:28; Galatians 1:11-2:10), also talked a lot about God’s love for mankind based on his personal experience. Paul, who once persecuted the followers of Jesus Christ, suffered for the sake of Jesus Christ as he defended Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah whom the Jews were waiting for centuries (2 Corinthians 11:23b-33; also refer to Acts 9:16; 18:28; 21:17-28:31). It is not surprising that Apostle Paul writes so much about love, very specifically about the love of God, in all of his epistles. It is us, mankind, who are the biggest beneficiaries of God’s love despite our rebelliousness against him. Paul knew that he was the Saul who opposed the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem and its neighboring regions, yet experienced the love of God with a momentary encounter with Jesus Christ at the entrance of Damascus. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus Christ changed his view of God and of fellow-human beings, and even the purpose of his life changed. In fact, he was fighting for Jesus the Messiah (as the Jews were waiting for the Messiah’s appearance in order to save them from their enemies/oppressors and from all their troubles) against Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of mankind. His problem was that he and a vast majority of Jews along with their leaders, including priests, prophets, teachers of the Law, Pharisees, Sadducees, and so on, failed to understand that Jesus of Nazareth who was preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God in their Synagogues is the Messiah for whom they had been waiting for centuries (Numbers 24:17-19; Deuteronomy 18:15; Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 42:1-4).

When Apostle Paul became an ardent follower and a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ whom he persecuted, he himself testified about his bond with Jesus Christ as he wrote to Timothy:

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 1:12-14)

He stated again his bond with Jesus Christ when wrote to the believers in Philippi that For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). When Paul realized that he was among the worst of all sinners (1 Timothy 1:14-15), yet Christ died for Him, he acknowledged the love of God for him that is revealed in and through Jesus Christ. He stated that God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8; also refer to 2 Corinthians 4:11-12). In the light of this, he very boldly stated in his Epistle to the Romans that nothing (gain or pain) could separate us from the love of God that revealed through Christ the Lord:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39)

In all of Apostle Paul’s writings that are included in the New Testament, the key focus is on God’s love for humanity, which is revealed in and through Jesus Christ. In the First Epistle to the believers in Corinth, Paul spared one full chapter (13:1-13) to talk about love. When Apostle Paul said that I will show you the most excellent way in 1 Corinthians 12:31b, we can understand that the most excellent way Paul talks about is the way of love, which he elaborates in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. If we closely analyze and study 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, we can understand that Apostle Paul was trying to explain: what love is, what love is not, what love does, what love does not do, what are some of the characteristics of love, and so on. While we are focusing only on the characteristics of love for our meditation this week (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a), let us try to understand what Apostle Paul is trying to say in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Paul says that:

1. 1. 1. without love, everything we say, do, own, and possess is meaningless/worthless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3);
      2. Apostle Paul stated somewhere else that Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good (Romans 12:9), which indicates that without knowing/practicing the true nature/characteristics of love, it is impossible to love genuinely; in such situations, what we call love is not genuine love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7);
      3. Paul brings up a comparison between the spiritual gifts and love in which he points out that the spiritual gifts are temporary and will stop but love never fails. This indicates that the spiritual gifts we received from God for our spiritual edification will stop some day but God’s love or divinely originated love will never fail for it is perpetual and will continue through all eternity (1 Corinthians 13:8-12); and
      4. Paul tells the believers that even if everything fails/stops, including the spiritual gifts we received from God for our spiritual edification as we discussed above, faith, hope, and love will remain, among which love is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13). When Apostle Paul stated that love is the greatest (even greater than faith and hope, two of the most sustaining factors in our spiritual pilgrimage), it is because (I) one day we will see and experience that which we saw by faith (all the promises of God in our life that which we saw by faith through our spiritual eyes will be fulfilled in a literal way and we will see it with our own eyes and we will inherit it in our life; after that, faith is not necessary for it does not have a role to play in our life); and (III) we will attain what we hoped for in eternity (an everlasting life with God the Father, God the Son [Jesus Christ], and God the Holy Spirit]); but (III) love will be found now (in the present age as well as in the age to come) and will continue in and through all eternity for ever and ever.

As Apostle Paul continues to encourage the Corinthian believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, he makes sure to reiterate that everything they see, hear, or experience in life may cease to exist at Christ’s return but love will never fail nor cease to exist, rather, it will continue all through eternity. As the followers of Christ, every word we say must be said in love, everything we do must be done in love, and everything we own must be derived from God’s will. Love must be the driving force behind everything we say or do or imagine. Let us come back to the passage we have chosen for our meditation, that is, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a; and briefly discuss the true nature/characteristics of love:

• • Love is patient (13:4a)
  • Love is kind (13:4b)
  • Love does not envy (13:4c)
  • Love does not boast (13:4d)
  • Love is not proud (13:4e)
  • Love does not dishonor others (13:5a)
  • Love is not self-seeking (13:5b)
  • Love is not easily angered (13:5c)
  • Love keeps no record of wrongs (13:5d)
  • Love does not delight in evil (13:6a)
  • Love rejoices with the truth (13:6b)
  • Love always protects (13:7a)
  • Love always trusts (13:7b)
  • Love always hopes (13:7c)
  • Love always perseveres (13:7d)
  • Love never fails (13:8a)

Apostle Paul continues his teachings that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13 [also refer to Acts 2:21]), and those who are saved must follow the way of love (1 Corinthians 14:1a). Unlike spiritual gifts, which will cease to exist after Christ’s return, love will never cease to exist. We, as the children of God, must love God and love one another and love the rest of God’s creation because we are called to love; in fact, we are called to love in a generous manner, as God loves us. Apostle Paul stated that love is the factor that binds all Christian virtues together in perfect unity and he urges all the believers to practice these virtues as they walk with Jesus:

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:12-14)

We can understand from Paul’s teachings that everyone who is in the Lord is a new creation because they are reconciled with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Such people must love God the way Christ loved His Father in heaven, and love one another the way Jesus loved all of us on earth. In addition, we, the followers of Christ, must put into practice everything He commanded us to do and put on love over all the virtues like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience and so on:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Dear friends in the Lord, we may know everything about everything we see, hear, or experience in life, we may have everything we need to move on in life, we may be the most gifted person among all our dear and near ones, we may be the most influential person in our community, we may be winners of the most prestigious awards, we may gain all the possessions in the world, but if we fail to have love (the love that Christ showed us) and fail to share that love with others, it means nothing and everything we boast about will be meaningless because love is the divine factor that binds everyone together and everything together in unity. Without love the world will fall apart and our existence itself will be in danger. Therefore, let us love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Let us invite ourselves to read it again what Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, especially the verses 4-8a (the passage we chose for our meditation), and examine for ourselves whether we are following them or we are failing to follow them:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails … (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Just in case, if some of us have fallen short of following them somewhere in the middle of our spiritual pilgrimage, now is the right time to begin again the practice of true love, the love that Jesus showed/taught us, in and through our word and deed. As Apostle Paul stated: Let our love be sincere (Romans 12:9a) for love never fails. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!