Perfect Love

The last few weeks I have been reading through the verses of 1 Corinthians 13 daily.  While I have read them many times before and even studied them individually on occasion, God has been speaking to and changing my heart regarding the love in my life with both acquaintances and those closest to me.

I have read through these verses regarding love many times in the past.  These verses can often be found on plaques, included in wedding vows and are familiar to most people (regardless of religious affiliation). These words are beautifully written and can produce a warm, fuzzy feeling when one imagines being the recipient of such a perfect love.  However, the reality is that these verses were never meant to be guidelines or a measuring stick for the love we receive from others.

While studying these verses, God has been speaking to my heart, challenging my expectations for others and clarifying His expectation for Christian love from me.  While focusing on these verses, I have found it helpful to review different versions as I have considered the different relationships in my life. The version attached below is from The Message.   I chose to attach this lesser known version in hope that you could take a familiar passage of scripture and more easily consider a different perspective.  The meaning is the same but the new words and phrases may speak differently into your life.

Paul wrote these verses to the Corinthian church in the midst of conflict among believers.  They define a perfect love and describe the characteristics of Christian love expressed.  They challenge believers to model our love towards others after the love Jesus shares with us rather than being a reflection of the expression of love we receive from others.  As Christians, Christ-like love should intentionally be acted out in our daily lives to all those that God has carefully placed into our path.  When loving correctly, believers should be set apart; inspiring people to seek out our Savior and to embrace the perfect love that can only come from Jesus.

The way of love

 1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.

   Love cares more for others than for self.

   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

   Love doesn't strut,

   Doesn't have a swelled head,

   Doesn't force itself on others,

   Isn't always "me first,"

   Doesn't fly off the handle,

   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

   Doesn't revel when others grovel,

   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

   Puts up with anything,

   Trusts God always,

   Always looks for the best,

   Never looks back,

   But keeps going to the end.

 8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love