I Corinthians 13: 4-7
Love is patient, --
It does not give up easily.
love is kind, --
Sympathetic and thoughtful graciousness.
is not jealous; --
Not resentful, possessive, or suspicious.
Love does not brag --
Boast, gloat, exult.
and is not arrogant, --
Presumptuous, aloof, pretentious, self-important.
Does not act unbecomingly; --
Indecently, inappropriately, offensively.
It does not seek its own, --
Self-absorbed, selfish, self-obsessed.
is not provoked, --
Does not take personally a slight or insult.
does not take into account a wrong suffered, --
Even an obvious abuse or harm done deliberately.
does not rejoice in unrighteousness, --
Does not promote what God condemns.
but rejoices with the Truth; --
Feels good when what is right and moral and pure overpowers what is wrong, twisted or backward.
Bears all things, --
Puts up with others' mistakes without condemnation.
believes all things, --
Always gives the benefit of the doubt and puts the best frame on it.
hopes all things, --
Always looks for the most beneficial result.
endures all things. --
Lasts through extended hardship without losing faithfulness or the looking for the best in the end.
Love never fails. --
Real love will never give up, never fall out, and never end.
How many times, I wonder, have I not been loving according to all these ways, in my thinking about others, my attitudes toward them, and my actions resulting from my faulty natural ways. Please forgive me and teach me Your ways, O Lord, and strengthen me to follow them.
Tomorrow we'll see the conclusion to the matter.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
