Day 54 — The Way of Love

Day 54 · Growing in Holiness, Love, and Wisdom · 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NET2)

Paul writes to a church impressed by gifts but troubled by rivalry. Even remarkable abilities accomplish nothing of lasting worth without love. His description is practical: patience, kindness, truthfulness, and refusal to keep a ledger of wrongs. Love is not sentimental approval of everything. It seeks another’s good in truth, reflecting the love we have received in Christ.

Request

Father, form the love of Christ in my ordinary responses. Amen.

Read

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. ⁶ It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Scripture: NET Bible, Second Edition (NET2).

Reflect

1. Which contrasts show the difference between impressive gifts and genuine love?
2. Which description of love challenges the way you treat someone close to you?

Restate

Describe love using one concrete example from your own relationships.

Respond

Let the passage guide your prayer. Use these prompts in your own words:

• Praise: Praise God for his enduring love.
• Thanksgiving: Thank him for loving you patiently.
• Confession: Confess a loveless response you have excused.
• Intercession: Pray for someone who feels unwanted.
• Petition: Ask the Spirit for patience and kindness.

Carry it into today: Practice one expression of love from this passage in a difficult interaction.