1 Corinthians 13:4-8

I remember going to my cousin's wedding about two years ago. He's not Christian, and I also assume that his wife is not Christian either. However, they read a bible verse during the ceremony.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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.

(v4-8, NIV)

Now, in my ignorance I thought maybe they were Christian. At the very least, either bride or groom was a Christian by name. But, no, it's just a nice heart-warming thing to say at a wedding. I guess simply pulling chapter 13 out on its own can stand for something acceptable among non-Christians. It leaves you all fuzzy and tingly inside. That's sad, really...

I remember a brother in CCF commenting on this passage. He was saying how it is titled "The Way of Love" in ESV. Though paragraph titles are not in the original Hebrew and Greek, he was still able to extract some truth from it. In his dealings recently he had come to question the popular question, "what is love?". In looking to this passage and studying it, he noticed the title of the passage. These things about love in this chapter are not what love is, but the way of love. Though he would learn a lot about love in this chapter, it would not fully satisfy his question. What is love? We can learn a lot about it in this passage, but there's more to it I guess.

Michael Scott: What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you?

Dwight Schrute: Don't be an idiot. Changed my life.

Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, "Would an idiot do that?" And if they would, I do not do that thing.

(Business School, The Office)

Similar to the WWJD as some of you may be more familiar with, Dwight in "The Office" uses a similar test. Maybe another thing you could ask yourself is, "is it loving?" as another test. Seeing from verses 1-3, things are useless without love. In reading verses 4-8 we can learn of some of the characteristics of love. Hopefully this will help us gain a better understanding of love so we can tell if something we are doing is loving or not.