“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
While these verses are often read at weddings and applied to romantic relationships, Paul is actually writing to a much larger situation. This chapter is written to a church struggling with internal conflict and division, a gifted, talented, blessed church that can’t seem to work together. This passage defines what love is meant to look like between any two Christians, particularly any two church members.
Obviously, Paul wouldn’t need to write these words if there weren’t going to be problems between Christians from time to time. We wouldn’t need to be patient, kind, humble, calm, long-suffering, and enduring toward one another if it weren’t a given that from time to time we will try each other’s patience, gentleness, and endurance! We’re all frail creatures of dust and there will always be interpersonal challenges within any body of believers until Christ returns.
Rather than shun other believers or walk away from the body of Christ (the church), we must choose to love like Paul describes here! When our brothers and sisters in Christ try our patience and take advantage of our kindness, we must choose to love them patiently, kindly, humbly, unselfishly, calmly, truthfully, and enduringly.
This is an incredibly hard task, isn’t it? However, it’s one that’s possible because Jesus already, and always, loves us this way. Despite all our sins, mistakes, goof-ups, and implosions, Jesus still loves us in exactly this way. His Spirit within us empowers us to love our brothers and sisters like this, even when we desperately want to respond in a different way. Choose to love others like Jesus, no matter how you feel about them!