One of the most popular subjects that has ever interested the heart of any man or woman is love. This is something that people are interested in: if they don’t have it they are interested in getting it; if they do have it, they find it is one of the most tremendous factors in the fulfillment of life.
Now, the love of which we are going to speak is not just the human, natural love, but that which goes even deeper. We are going to give you a definition of love and show you how it operates.
There are so many things about love that people do not understand.
We will start with the passage in I Corinthians 13:4–10. Love suffereth long, and is kind:love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
Here is what I would call a definition of love or at least a description of the characteristics of love. And I wonder as we measure our love up to this, if we would not agree that this is holy, divine love that is produced in the life of a believer because God’s very nature and life is flowing into them.
God is love; God is this kind of love. Love suffereth long or is patient. This love is longsuffering in relationships with other people and patient over circumstances.
Sometimes love in a clash of personalities is the greatest test of love there is. Now, the word in the Greek here, “makrothumeo”, means clemency; the idea being that love is merciful toward people.
There are so many that are ready to just throw you to the wolves at the first little excuse. You realize what gossip can do, how thoughtless and unkind people can be in what they say, but when the love of God fills their hearts, they are going to be patient and longsuffering.
Love is kind. This means that love is tender and sympathetic and understanding, and it will continually magnify virtues and not the faults.
I think the critical spirit is one of the most deadly things you can find in every realm. Take a child that is a genius in creativity, and if you are not kind to him, you can destroy everything in his spirit.
A woman may love her husband, but if she continually nags and is critical, that love is just slain; a sword pierces through the heart and that is the end of it.
Love is a kind thing; it is not critical. Love is not harsh.
Love knows no envy, or envieth not. It is not envious of possessions or of others’ blessings or other people’s success; it is not even envious of other people’s relationships. Love has to be without envy.
Another thing about this love: it says it is not puffed up. Love vaunteth not itself, which means love does not brag.
A person with the love of God is never inflated; they do not feel self-important or self-sufficient. Love is not puffed up.
Love doth not behave itself unseemly, or literally in the Greek, “it does not behave gracelessly.”
The word for grace, “charis,” denotes the idea of beauty, gracefulness, courtesy, politeness. Love does not behave itself unseemly, and that love of God seeks not her own. God’s love puts God first; it does not seek its own at the expense of others.
Love’s horizons are ever extended to embrace more and more, more people, more things, for love seeks not her own.
Love is always concerned about the other person’s blessing and the other person’s life.
It says also, love is not provoked. I like that. When it says that love is not provoked, I think it means that it is not exasperated. Exasperation is a sure sign that love is defeated.
The person who is master of their temper can rise up to be master of almost anything. And if you are angry or provoked, I think you might as well face it, you are defeating the success of your whole life by your temper.
Love thinketh no evil, or it does not harbor or brood over evils of the past. Love will forget personal injustices; love does not allow the past to be a stumbling block to the future.
You must remember in every case that suspicion is foreign to love, and if you love someone, you are not going to be suspicious of them, you are going to think no evil of them.
Another sign we see here is that love rejoiceth not in iniquity, and that is important. I think some people are secretly glad when moral evil overtakes another person.
I have seen people who would grieve over any kind of wrong doing, and other people seem to get a bang out of it, almost a morbid curiosity and satisfaction in seeing somebody that had been doing a good job in life, all of a sudden overcome by base passions or something and they slip and fall.
But love does not rejoice in iniquity, love rejoiceth in the truth. It rejoices when the truth prevails and has nothing to fear from the truth. Love seeks the truth at personal cost and personal sacrifices. If you really have love, you will seek for the truth even if it hurts you or your position. Love rejoices in the truth and rejoices not in iniquity.
Love bears all things. That means it will endure anything for the sake of an unclouded testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. It will bear insult, it will bear injury; it will bear disappointment without murmuring or complaining. Love can put up with almost anything because love bears all things.
Another description here says that love believes all things. We would paraphrase that by saying that love takes God at His word. Love believes what God has worked in people and is not always suspicions of it.
Love travels the second mile in trusting people and trying to help them.
We make people what they are many times by what we believe them to be and I have seen that happen time and time again.
Love has hope for all things. It doesn’t see any person as hopeless. Love does not have a closed mind; love sees and hopes for great potentials in all the people that are existing in the world today.
Last of all, love endures all things. The Greek word, “upomeneo,” means to remain when others have departed. Love endures all things; it will stay with it after everyone else has become discouraged and gone home. Love endures all things. It is a joyous, aggressive and persistent advance if you have real love from God in your heart.
Love is the more excellent way. Love goes with perfect perception. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then when the perfect love is come, we will know as we are known. I Corinthians 13:12.
Love is with perfect utterance. Now we know in part, and prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. I Corinthians 13:9–10.
This is not talking about the second coming of the Lord, but love being perfected in our heart now as we break through the veil.
Last of all, love will develop a perfect awareness and consciousness of the Lord.