“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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.

Love never ends.

As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

(1 Corinthians 13:1–13, ESV)  

Reflecting on these passages this morning, I cannot help but see the evident need of Love in our society today. With all the hate in the world, there is an obvious desire for acceptance and love by our society. It is almost as if our culture is calling out with a natural thirst for love.

This is the key for those who know Christ. We have seen love in action. We have experienced the power and victory of lov ein our lives. This is our opportunity to show love to others. Here, Paul makes this clear by outlining what love is; patient, kind, humble, easy going, and righteous.

Jesus commanded this of his disciples.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:

just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

(John 13:34–35, ESV)  

The command is clear. Now we must act.

Who are you being called to love?

How are you doing with loving others?