1 Corinthians 13:1-7: a reflection

1If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. 4Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

In this famous chapter, Paul sets love above every other gift and achievement. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, he says, I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophecy, and all knowledge, and faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and even give my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. However impressive our gifts, without love they are empty. And then Paul describes what love actually is: patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs.

Notice both halves of Paul's teaching. First, that without love, everything else is worthless: the most impressive gifts, knowledge, and even sacrifices count for nothing if love is absent. And second, that love is not a vague feeling but a way of acting, spelled out in concrete terms: it is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not proud or rude or self-seeking, it bears and believes and hopes and endures. This is love with its sleeves rolled up, love that shows itself in how we treat others.

That gives us a searching measure for our lives. We are prone to measure ourselves by our gifts, our achievements, our knowledge, our sacrifices; but Paul says these are nothing without love. And the love that matters is not a feeling we can claim while acting otherwise, but a concrete way of treating people: patient, kind, humble, unselfish, forgiving. Measure yourself by love, not by your gifts. Ask whether your life shows the patient, kind, unselfish love Paul describes, for without it, all the rest is nothing. Make love your aim, and let it show in how you treat the people around you, for love is what gives everything else its worth.

Lord, Paul teaches that without love, even the most impressive gifts, knowledge, and sacrifices are nothing, and he shows me that love is patient and kind, not envious or boastful or proud, not self-seeking or easily angered, bearing and believing and hoping and enduring all things. Give me that searching measure for my life. I am prone to measure myself by my gifts, achievements, and knowledge; but you say these are nothing without love. And the love that matters is not a feeling I can claim while acting otherwise, but a concrete way of treating people: patient, kind, humble, unselfish, forgiving. Help me measure myself by love, not by my gifts. Show me where my life lacks the patient, kind, unselfish love you describe, for without it, all the rest is nothing. Make love my aim, and let it show in how I treat the people around me. Fill me with your love, Lord, for love is what gives everything else its worth.