The More Excellent Way – Part 2

I Corinthians 13:1-13 There is a second answer to the question, What does love do? It is: LOVE SYMPATHIZES 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. We have two affirmative descriptions here. Then we have eight negative attributes and five positive attributes. Love is patient. Love suffers long and is kind. Patience means to endure hardship. Patience means not easily aroused, being steadfast under burdens. Love is kind. Kind has a meaning of gentleness, not easily aroused, not easily perturbed. Patient and kind. Now there are eight negative attributes. We peel away the negatives to see the core of love. Love envieth not. Love is without jealousy. So tempting, isn’t it? To look at neighbor so and so, or friend or relative so and so, who has more than we do and wish that we had more. That is rank jealousy. Vaunteth not itself. Love does not brag, does not talk all the time. We all know people who seem to run off at the mouth all the time. Love does not brag and knows when to keep quiet. Is not puffed up. Love is not arrogant, or proud. It does not say, “I am number one.” Does not behave indecently. The Scripture here says “unseemly.” It means indecently. We are all impacted by the world in which we live. Some of the indecency we see around us is quite distressing, to be sure. Seeketh not her own. That means love is not selfish. We have been told, “Toot your own horn. If you don’t toot it, nobody else will toot it for you.” Of course, love doesn’t do that. Love is not selfish. Is not easily provoked. That means love is not easily agitated or irritated. Some people wear their feelings on their elbows and are getting hurt all the time. Love is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. I understand that means keeps no records. Some people are like elephants; they never forget. In some places feuds have carried on for generations. The people never forgot. There was record keeping. Love doesn’t do that. Rejoiceth not in iniquity. Iniquity means crookedness. We have our ideas. Love takes notice of iniquity but does not gloat over it. It rejoiceth not in iniquity. There we have the eight negative attributes peeled away. Now let’s look at the five positive attributes. Rejoiceth in the truth. That’s a wonderful statement. Love and truth are joined in God and should be joined in His people. We ought to have love and truth joined in our hearts and lives. Love beareth all things. Love does not chafe under conditions that are difficult. It faces conditions that are difficult and hard to bear and bears all things. Believeth all things. Now that does not mean being gullible or not discerning. Love sees the truth as it is in God. And that’s how and why love believes all things because the vision is directed through the Word of God. Hopeth all things. You know hope is more than just wishful thinking. “Oh, I hope so.” The hope Paul is speaking of is grounded in God. Our hope in God is not instable or unstable. Our hope in God is securely grounded. And then endureth all things. Love bears up under trial. Ther...