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 But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Notes
What are the characteristics of true love? Love is an emotion characterized by strong affection for another arising out of kinship, companionship, admiration, or benevolence.” Love is more than acceptance from others. It’s more than the affection we receive because of our looks, how much money we have, how successful, or even how smart we are. Love is an action that has great responsibilities.
Love is patient is more than staying calm while gritting your teeth. Its premise is to be long-suffering. The word long-suffering or long-tempered is a person who shows restraint when angry. This person is someone who is not quick to retaliate or to punish someone. Love is kind is best stated in Ephesians 4:32, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. What a perfect definition of what being kind is.
If that’s not enough and straight to the point, the apostle Paul gives us an exhaustive list of how someone who loves does not act. Someone who loves is not envious, not boastful, not proud. If you love someone, you would not dishonor them. You would not put your welfare over the person you love. If you love someone, you will not be quickly angered and will not keep a mental list of everything that they do wrong. People in a loving relationship would protect one another, trust one another, have hope in one another, and persevere with one another. Love finds joy in what is right and truthful rather than taking pleasure in the suffering, misfortune, or wrongdoing of others.
Love, true love, never fails us. Predictions and revelations cease, and our tongues will be stilled, and our knowledge will pass away. Love is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which never passes away. Yet, the others are temporary and cannot be relied upon. We need to hold to the spiritual gift of love. The entire chapter of 1 John 4 is an excellent chapter of what love is. I would highly suggest you read it. But the short of it is that we can love because God first loved us. He loved us so much that He had His Son come to earth, born as a baby in a barn. He lived on this earth for 33 years, giving of Himself to sinners, teaching, healing, feeding the hungry, and convicting souls. After He gave so much of Himself, He was judged wrongly, beaten, spat upon, and made to carry His own cross. He was hung on that cross, and He died a very humiliating death. Our Prophet, Priest, and King had so much love for us that He died for us so that we might receive Him and become adopted children into His kingdom (John 3:17).
As we enter a new year, may His example encourage us to express love regularly and sacrificially to all those God puts before us.
—by P.D. Deckard
MEMORY VERses
Related Verses
More verses about His unfailing love:
“God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.“
—Jerry Bridges
MANÁ 
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