13 If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. 3 If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end. As for tongues, they will stop. As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end. 9 We know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things. 12 Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known. 13 Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13
I was wondering what would happen if this were the only passage I read for the rest of my life. If everyday I read and focused my attention on this one passage everyday how it would shape me. If I meditated deeply on these words. If I prayed for a better understanding of this passage. If I fed this into my conscious mind every day. If I denied myself all other passages of scripture. Would I not just understand this passage better but would I be transformed into someone who loves better and who holds all other achievements in life and worthless if love is not the result, the motive, the sum of the parts the life force.
It is normal and common for us to focus on our achievements and to not value love. What Paul is talking about in the beginning could be replaced by any great achievement: curing cancer, bringing clean drinking water to third world countries, inventing electric cars, building interstates, developing military powers, becoming super wealthy. Whatever we are impressed by and strive for in this world. We place great value on those things and desire them. We spend our days and years trying to attain them. And Paul is not saying that we shouldn’t. He is just saying that achieving those things at the expense of love is a failure. Love is to be valued above everything. To have brought all of that into the world and yet to not develop a deep space for love to thrive and flourish within us makes us worthless and makes all of our efforts futile.
Love does not appear great. Love shows up in the small little things. Love shows up in the hard choices. Love is present when we are not bragging about our accomplishments. Love shows up when we forgive those that hurt us even when they didn’t apologize. Love makes us appear weak and passive. Foolish and naive. Unambitious and poor.
In verse 8 Paul comes back to what he was saying in the beginning. Whatever great accomplishments we are striving for will eventually reach their end (and they won’t even be that great anymore). But love will always be here. Love will always move things forward. Perfection is the end goal of love. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says to “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. He is not saying to get everything on the law right and never make a mistake. He is saying to love as God loves. That is being perfect. That is the maturity and completeness that Paul is talking about here.
We can only do what we know to do. Paul says that when he was a child, he thought like a child so he did what children do. As he has matured, what was once completely appropriate for a child, no longer belongs as part of his behavior. We also mature in our ability to love. As we mature we will love differently that when we only understood love from an immature point of view.
None of that happens unless and until we value love properly. When we value and strive for achievements that impress others but do not value love, we remain immature. Our achievements may be great but we ourselves have no value. We’re just a loud annoying noise to others.
The big achievements are not going to get me there. It is the small everyday decisions to be kind, to be patient, to forgive, to not be rude that get me there. All the little things that go unnoticed shape me.