God loves you.
Even if you’ve heard that a thousand times, it’s possible you still aren’t grasping the depth of that statement.
God – the creator of the universe- loves you perfectly and completely. The verse below describes how He loves you and me.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (WEB)
4 Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
The Love Verse
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is often read at weddings because it describes HOW to love perfectly and completely.
If we were truly able to love this perfectly, there would be no divorce – or even marital strife. We would be perfect partners and perfect parents. Unfortunately, we’re far from perfect because we’re human.
As an imperfect human soul inhabiting a mortal body, it is impossible for us to love this perfectly and completely.
While we can’t achieve this, God loves us like this all the time.
Joyce Meyers teaches that there’s nothing you can do can make God love you more or less.
He loves you as much today as He did yesterday. He loves you perfectly even though you aren’t capable of loving Him or anyone else this perfectly.
I know that it’s hard to wrap your brain around a love this perfect and pure.
The NIV words verse 5 a bit differently.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God’s Perfect Love
Imagine if you were magically capable of loving your child or spouse this perfectly. Everything you would do would be in your loved one’s best interest a.k.a. not self seeking.
This loving perfectly is much harder than I thought it would be. I have to admit that I was devastated when my daughter decided to drop playing the violin to focus on sports in 6th grade. Two years later she was instrumental in her team winning state. We traveled to a neighboring state to play in the regional tournament.
Before the game, a young lady about her age played the national anthem on her violin. My heart ached. Of course I was proud of her, but if I had my way, she would have been playing violin instead of competing.
Had I been capable of loving her perfectly, my heart wouldn’t have ached. I would have rejoiced that she was following her passion. Instead, I was hurt that she wasn’t appeasing my desire for her to do what I wanted her to do.
While that’s tough, it’s not the toughest part of this verse to live up to. The hardest part (IMO) is “it keeps no record of wrongs” or “takes no account of evil.“
Whoa! Wait a minute. I’m not supposed to “keep a record” of the stupid and selfish things people do? I’m not support to “take account”of when my husband drained his 401 to buy a motorcycle? (If that’s not evil – or at least wrong – I don’t know what is!)
Not only am I not supposed to record this event, I’m also supposed to protect, trust, hope and persevere in spite of it.
Oh, and when God also asks us to love one and other, this is the love He’s talking about. OUCH!
God loves you and me with this perfect love. When we’re jerks, He still loves us. When we’re keeping a record of how someone has wronged us,
He still loves us perfectly and completely. He loves us even though we can’ possible love Him back equally.
Not only can we not love Him back equally, but there’s nothing we can do to earn His love