“Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up. 5. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil.”
The word that is translated “charity” in the KJV is a translation of the Greek word “agape” (ah-gah-pay). The same word is translated as love in almost all of John’s writings, including the well-known John 3:16: “For God so loved the world…” Agape describes real Christian love, for it describes God’s kind of love. In a sense, when we practice agape, we practice God’s kind of love. 1 Corinthian 13 reveals agape love as a gift that Christians are to use to express their love in word and deed. What will real Christian love do or how will it act? “Love suffers Long” A modern translation of “suffers long” is patience. There are two different Greek words used for patience in the Bible. One is patience in the sense of waiting, as we would use it about being stopped at a red light. The other word is “longsuffering”, i.e., being patient in suffering and not becoming impatient with the circumstances or with God. Real Christian love is willing to suffer. The author of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul, is a good example of this kind of love. It can mean to be patient in persecution, and to not become impatient with God. I haven’t scratched the surface of the aspect of real Christian love, but I think you have enough here to understand what it is about. If you want to see it in action read the Gospel narratives of Christ’s trial and crucifixion. “Love…is kind.” If there is one word that would describe Christ like love it is the word “kind.” Again, Jesus was kind to the people that he encountered in His earthly life. It takes just as little time to be kind as it takes to be unkind. The choice is really ours, and if Jesus lives in our hearts, He will help us make the right choice in this matter. Think of your daily encounters with people and determine whether or not you were kind in these encounters. For example, how did you treat the waitress/waiter at the restaurant who didn’t refill your tea? Being kind is an integral part of our Christian witness. “Love does not envy.” Envy, or jealousy, is a real witness killer. When we envy anyone about anything we are not acting in love toward them. Why not be happy for the person that you envy? If one of your friends gets a raise, or a promotion, the response of Christian love would be to be glad for them and to congratulate them. When we do otherwise, we are listening to the devil, who has no interest in our Christian witness. “Love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up.” A modern translation of this is: “Love is not boastful, is not conceited.” If we really love God and people, we will not be boastful, because boastfulness is based on false pride and can be self-promotion. Our responsibility is to promote Christ, to brag on Him, and not boast about ourselves. (It didn’t say that we couldn’t brag on our grandchildren….) A conceited person is self-centered. Quite often, a conceited attitude repels people and makes them not want to be around us, let alone accept our witness. Besides that, conceit often betrays an inferiority complex, and causes us to be preoccupied with ourselves to the exclusion of others. To be continued…………. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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