No, I’m not quoting Celine Dion lyrics at you. I promise. But
while we’re on the topic of pop culture love songs, let’s clarify that I’m not
talking about love in the same way that Celine or Beyonce are, though I’ll
confess that for a long time, I thought that was the kind of love Paul was
talking about in this passage of his letter to the Corinthians. So often, we
are tempted into reading this passage of Scripture for what we would individually
gain from it—“look for people who treat you with kindness, who are patient with
you, who will not delight in evil but rejoice in truth with you, and live life
with those people.”
But this portion of Scripture is more than simply a sweet “quotable
quote” that can be graven into any number of clever gifts found in Hallmark and
hospital gift shops. It is SO much more powerful than that.
Living lives that are fashioned after the model of
Christlike love would indicate that love is not about the way it makes us feel
(sorry, Michael Jackson); it is a self-sacrificial way of engaging with &
serving those around us, and acting in ways that benefit their growth, their
goodness, their wholeness and their flourishing, even (and often)
at great cost to ourselves. If we take a moment to notice Paul’s words
surrounding 1 Cor 13, we’d notice him speaking at length about spiritual gifts
and how those gifts play out in community. Leaning into the gifts God
has given each of us—leaning into the power he has bestowed on us as his
image-bearers—is not an action that we engage in to glorify ourselves or gain
power and prestige for our own sake, but rather for the community as a whole.
If that seems like too tall an order to take on, take heart:
you can’t do it alone. Neither can I. I am entirely too complacent, too selfish
and too broken to turn my heart toward others in my own power. Thank God for the
gift of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us and conforms us ever more to this
truly powerful and loving way of life.
