Substitute the word Love for God,

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We would not be in error to substitute the word Love for God, for love is God and God is love.  So as we engage these verses to do that, it will give you a profound appreciation for our Father, for He is love.  “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, and endures all things.”

As I ponder on “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude,” I understand how patient the Father has been with my sinful life.  After I entered into a relationship with Christ and Father God, over and over the Spirit of Truth sent people and resources to guide me into the Truth, for Jesus is the only truth.  Have you noticed that God does not boast, He only states; I Am, and yet not one thing has ever been made that God was not the architect.  Can you grasp that the word envy is a human problem; it wants what somebody else has.  The apostle Paul gives us this insight in his letter to the church at Colossae; “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”  (Colossians 1:15-16)  He is Jesus, and unlike you and me He has no envy, but He is a jealous God when we put others above Him and they become a source of our worship.

God is never arrogant or rude, but those traits or qualities seem to come out in you and me.  One must ask what is the source, why does a small child tell another kid, my dad is better than yours, or you’re not good enough to play ball with my team.

God/Love is patient and kind, He does not envy or boast, He is not arrogant or rude, He does not demand His own way, and He is not irritable or resentful; and He never rejoices at wrongdoing but only in Truth.  God/Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

As a student and maybe not yet a follower of Christ, can you see how these qualities would add to your life and how you would look at parents, teachers, the girl or boy you are dating or want to date in a very different light?  As a husband can you imagine the difference applying these virtues in your marriage will make?  And as a parent or grandparent how will these traits change the landscape of your relationships?

After 74 years of living life, my greatest desire is to love, not to live in fear and hate people I do not know or understand.  Not to acquire more stuff, but to love my neighbor as myself, to do what Jim Elliot states in this quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice