Real love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (New Living Translation)

1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Which quality of real love do you most need to ask God to increase in your life?

Our society confuses love and lust. Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed outward towards others, not inward toward ourselves. It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against our natural inclinations. It involves unselfish service to others and gives evidence that we care. Faith is the foundation and content of God's message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is the action. When faith and hope are in line, we are free to love completely because we understand how God loves. It is only as God helps us set aside our own desires and instincts that we can give this love while expecting nothing in return. Thus, the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others.