True Love

Let all that you do be done with love.

1 Corinthians 16:14

After spending some time reading and studying the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians this week, I have a fresh appreciation for its importance. Often this beautiful passage is referred to as the “love chapter” because of the repeated emphasis on what love “is” and what love “does” and “does not do”. I’ve read it at weddings and sermonized on these powerful words for years. My study this week brought an unexpected awareness of the depth of these words.

A quick reading of 1 Corinthians 13 reveals that there is no explicit mention of God. Yet, I am drawn to God from the beginning. Perhaps it is because I recognize the character of Christ in the description of love. Maybe it’s because I acknowledge that I do not have the capacity to love apart from God’s help. Nonetheless, the chapter is about God.

It doesn’t require theological genius to look around and discern how easily love can become distorted in our culture today. We cheapen love. We water it down. We make it into something selfish and manufactured. But, it’s not true love. Max Lucado writes, “God offers authentic love. His devotion is the real deal. But he won’t give you the genuine until you surrender the imitations.” When Paul closes out 1 Corinthians with some pastoral directives, he includes the words, “Let all you do be done with love.” If that sounds impossible, it is – apart from God’s help. Real love is possible when we let God’s love permeate our lives.