Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud – 1 Corinthians 13:4

If you have been to a faith wedding, there is a chance that you have heard this verse read out. It’s part of what is commonly known as ‘The Way Of Love’ passage and is a beautiful model of love to live by. But this passage wasn’t written by the Apostle Paul for weddings, it was written to and for the Church.

The Way of Love is all about what loving in a pure, holy, and genuine way looks like. This first verse tells is that love is kind and patient, not envious, proud, or boastful. To really love people with the love of Jesus, we need to show patience and kindness. We need to show grace and mercy. Our love should be coming from a place of genuine care for people. In a world where we are told we can have so many things, or be so many things, it is easy to fall into the trap of being envious of what others have, especially when we feel that we are lacking. It can be just as easy to be proud or boastful when we have more or have achieved more than others.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself and your achievements. In fact, it’s healthy to be proud of yourself when you achieve hard things are reach goals. What’s not healthy is when we start to view others poorly because they don’t have what we have or haven’t achieved what we’ve achieved.

To love like Jesus means to be happy for others in their successful and joy. Loving like Jesus means we recognise that our achievements and success doesn’t take away from anyone else. It means we extend patience and kindness to those around us as they navigate their own journey. For us to love like Jesus, we need to be led by Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit to refine us and guide us as we interact with the people around us. It can be hard to love some people, but through Jesus and His Holy Spirit, we can learn to show the love and grace of Jesus.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for a beautiful model of how to love people around us well. Help us to love like You and to show grace, patience, and kindness to everyone around us. In Jesus’ name, amen.