1 Corinthians 13:4-8a WEL Love is very patient and kind; love is not envious; love doesn’t brag about itself, is not haughty, 5 Doesn’t behave improperly, is not self-seeking; love isn’t easily aggravated, doesn’t keep a list of wrongs, 6 Doesn’t rejoice in injustice, but rejoices with the truth, 7 Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, calmly endures all things. 8 Love never falls away,
The actions of love are in public and private. These definitions of love are character traits of God.
Questions
B1In the following points, think of some examples in your life that God has shown these 16 facets of love, then some ways we should have and will do for others
C7 Is not self-seeking
D1 We are told to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), but there are those who seek themselves first.
D2 The Lord Jesus sought to honor His Father first. John 8:49, 54 NKJV Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ... 54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
D3 TheLord also sought for the lost that they might be saved. Luke 19:10 NKJV for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
D4 Barclay writes: In the last analysis, there are in this world only two kinds of people—those who always insist upon their privileges and those who always remember their responsibilities; those who are always thinking of what life owes them and those who never forget what they owe to life. It would be the key to almost all the problems which surround us today if men would think less of their rights and more of their duties. Whenever we start thinking about "our place", we are drifting away from Christian love.
C8 Not easily aggravated
D1 Not quick to defend oneself. Listens rather than lectures. Thinks about the situation before action.
D2 The Lord Jesus took many insults without revenge.
D3 An example of being easily aggravated is Cain. Genesis 4:5-8 NLT but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. 6 "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master." 8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, "Let's go out into the fields." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
C9 Doesn’t keep a list of wrongs
D1 Doesn’t bring up past mistakes, errors, etc. Doing so is a form of abuse.
D2 Barclay writes: One of the great arts in life is to learn what to forget. A writer tells how "in Polynesia, where the natives spend much of their time in fighting and feasting, it is customary for each man to keep some reminders of his hatred. Articles are suspended from the roofs of their huts to keep alive the memory of their wrongs--real or imaginary." In the same way many people nurse their wrath to keep it warm; they brood over their wrongs until it is impossible to forget them. Christian love has learned the great lesson of forgetting.
C10 Doesn’t rejoice in injustice
D1 God’s justice is equal laws for all individuals and equal punishment not laws and punishment based on socioeconomic reasons, power, authority, celebrity, etc.
D2 1 Corinthians 13:6 NLT It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
D3 This is what we must not do. Proverbs 17:15 NRSV One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
D4 True love does not like wrong (wrong according to God’s standards). 1 Peter 2:7-8 WEL But he delivered Lot, a just man, vexed by the filthy behavior of the wicked 8 For that righteous man lived among them. What he heard and saw vexed his righteous soul daily by their wicked actions.
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