True Love Never Fails

{Written By Miss Bethany}

:: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 ::

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

What is love? Is it a mere four letters arranged to make a word to express feelings or is it more than that? Is it found in the shape of a heart, all red and glowing, or does it come by another shape of another kind? Is it a feeling you receive when you find that special someone or is it the feeling you release once you've found that person? What is the ultimate love? Were does it come from? While many believe that love is a fluffy feeling or starkly symbol, I find true love to go farther than that.

Love is so much more than just a 4-letter word or a feeling we get. We see in 1 Corinthians 13 what True Love is, how it acts, how you can tell it apart from the others. Some may argue that love is a feeling or a shape, but when you ask me what I believe love to be I will tell you simply what love is: JESUS! So, put simply, love=Jesus.

When you look at the details of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 you will see a picture formed of Jesus.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Think about it, Jesus gave Himself for us on the cross, but He didn't have to do it with love. If you were sacrificing yourself, dying a terrible, horrid, painful death, do you think you could do it while loving those who inflicted you? What would Jesus have profited if He gave Himself, but without love? What worth would it have brought? Can you imagine retelling the story of Jesus death, but were you would portray the love He showed, you instead said that He despised and rejected the men who crucified Him, just as any normal human would? How much love did it take to overcome the hate for those that nailed Him to a cross? Is there any greater form of love?

Love is patient, If anyone was patient, Jesus was. He constantly had people begging Him to heal them or their loved ones, and instead of blowing up at the huge crowd and telling him that He had already healed too many people, He looked into their eyes with genuine love and healed them all. 

Love is kind. Jesus was certainly kind. He always had a passion for serving others, He never rejected anyone but helped His arms open for them no hatter what their past was. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Jesus was never proud although He had every right and reason to. He is the King of the world, He made everything...yet He was humble enough to be born in a stable and lie in a manger instead of being born in a royal spacious palace. He was humble enough to die on the cross for our sins instead of choosing not to do so because He didn't want to go through the pain.

It does not dishonor others, Jesus never dishonored others. All the times He forgave those who had committed grusome crimes and were filthy with sin, He had compassion on them. Instead of going around spreading gossip about the latest "sinner" He treated them with love they did not deserve.

It is not self-seeking, Jesus was never self-seeking. He was always thinking of others above Himself. He had no home, no food, no provisions yet He entrusted Himself to the Father to provide. He forsook the normal King routine of living in a big palace and instead slept outside on the ground. All so He could share the love to others.

It is not easily angered, Jesus did not get angry very often, and when He did it was for good reason. He didn't get angry at every little inconvenience but instead made it work without complaining. 

It keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus had all the reason in the world to keep record of our wrong doings. But instead He forgives them! What peace!

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Doesn't this display Jesus' attitude perfectly?

You know the sad thing about this? So many have not heard of the True Love. They have a gap in their heart that can only be filled by the True Love, yet the try in desperation to fill it with temporal love. Only to find that it wasn't what they are seeking. They don't know about the True Love, Jesus or His greatest act of Love. So our mission is to tell them. We have had the greatest Love lavished on us, so we should go and reflect that light to others.