This is the last characteristic in this list.
"Fail" in the original language comes from a word meaning to "fall." As in, it cannot stand anymore. I think the idea in both the original, and English, is pretty much the same. Love always works.
Love has the power to bring peace between enemies; to assure people of their worth, and value; to meet all kinds of needs. It attacks poverty. It attacks discrimination. It brings peace. It changes hearts.
When I started this, I had the feeling that these were four attitudes that were sort of associated. So, it seemed better to write one post for the four of them. I am now wondering if that is correct, but I am going to leave the post as is.
Bears All
The picture in the original language is protecting, or keeping, by covering. It acts as a roof over another person.
Love seeks the best for another person by coming along side them as they deal with issues, and gives support.
Believes All
The picture here is similar to English. It refers to being persuaded, or giving credit, to something. But it moves from there to placing confidence in what you are persuaded of.
Love seeks the best for another person by having a positive attitude about them. It has a realistic perspective, but it does not abandon them for their failures. It is committed to their progress, and well-bing.
Hopes All
Here the picture is a favorable, confident expectation. It is not like the English which has a "maybe" component.
Love seeks the best for another person by always expecting the best from others. Again, it is realistic, but it does not give up, or abandon others. It does not project failure onto others.
Endures All
The picture given here is someone abiding, or bearing, negative issues calmly, and bravely. It is similar to the English patience. They both describe attitudes of peace, and calmness, when facing negative situations.
When considering love, negative input usually comes from other people. So, love seeks the best for others by not giving up, not blowing up, but continuing in peace, and serenity. Losing one temper is not a result of love. Abandoning someone is not a result of love.
Each of these characteristics express love by seeking the best for people, and seeking the best in people, and holding on when the worst in people appears.
Here we have another two sides of one coin.
One of the premises of the Bible is that God designed, and created, the world. He designed the physical. He designed the spiritual. He designed people. And part of the design is a lifestyle that agrees with God's heart.
He designed it like a road. People can walk in the center, on the right side, or on the left side. This gives cultures flexibility to function differently. But it also gives a definite right and wrong. Right means staying on the road. Wrong means getting off the road.
If we walk on the road, we live in agreement with God's heart. And if we live in agreement with his heart, we live in line with God's intended meaning, and value, for creation.
Because of the presence of sin, no one stays on the road 100% of the time. Some stay on the road more than others. But everyone gets a traffic citation, and we cannot pay the fine. Thankfully Jesus paid the fine for us.
Love seeks the best for others by striving to stay on the road. Love also desires the best for others. Love does not rejoice when someone else gets a traffic citation. It is not the best for them. It is not the best for ones they interact with. Love does rejoice when someone returns to the road. Even if it is only one tire. When someone agrees with God's heart, he agrees with the design of creation, and he lives more in the way of peace, and joy.
Being "not irritable" or "not easily angered" is similar to being patient. The word in the original language means: to sharpen, to stimulate to anger, or to provoke.
So, love is not sharpened, is not stimulated to anger, or is not provoked. In difficult situations, love is expressed by remaining calm, and focusing on a solution for any interpersonal problems. And focusing on the value of the person standing in front of you. Being provoked to anger means a person is a focusing on injury, or insult. Love focuses on remaining calm to promote understanding, peace between people, with perhaps a temporary suspension of one's image, or rights.
Self-seeking is description of someone, only being concerned with his wants, desires, or needs. Self-serving, or selfish, could be other ways of expressing this idea.
Some self-focus is necessary. We do need to be concerned for our health. We do need to feed ourselves. But, there is a tipping point. Too much self-focus, and we lose sight of others' needs, and how we can be a solution to their problems.
Love seeks the best of others by being alert to other people, their needs, and how those needs can be met. And also surrendering time, energy, and, maybe, resources to meet those needs.
I am going to include two characteristics in this post, because I think they are two sides of the same coin.
Boasting is excessively, and ostentatiously, talking about, and stressing, one's accomplishments of possessions. Boasting is a call for people's attention. It is expressing why the boaster is higher and better.
Being arrogant is having an inflated view of one's self. It is one person regarding himself as higher, superior, and more important. And if that person is superior, and more important, then the other people are not.
Boasting puts one's self above others. Arrogance puts others below one's self.
Love is not boastful, or arrogant. Love does not put self above, or others below. Love holds others on the same level. Love treats others equally. Love regards others as equally important, and equally necessary.
Envy is an intense discontent, or resentment, concerning the possessions, or qualities, of another person. For example, one person sees another, who intelligent, or pretty, or has a Mercedes, or a particular group of friends. Seeing this arouses irritation, feelings of discontent, dislike, or irritation with the other person. And negative emotions generally produce negative behavior. For example, he could begin to speak about the other person in a negative, belittling, or insulting way.
But love is not envious. It sees the other person with desirable qualities, or possessions, and, at the very least, it does not raise any intense feelings. It does not cause discontent, dislike, or irritation.
And, maybe, to formulate it in a positive way, love might generate gratitude on the other person's behalf.
"Gee! It would be pretty cool to have a car like John's. But I am really glad he has one. I am thankful for his good fortune."
Kindness is another concept that is a little different in English and the original language of the Bible.
In English, it seems like kindness has the connotation of being friendly, warm-hearted, and sympathetic. Although, there is the idea of "acts of kindness."
In the original Biblical language, kindness refers to someone having a heart to promote someone else's good, prosperity, or happiness, in a concrete way. It seems to focus more on service, or practical benefit.
So, kindness seeks another person's best by practical acts of service, or generosity. It surrenders time, energy, and resources for another person's good.
The first quality on the list of love characteristics is patience. Patience in English is: the ability to wait calmly, and without complaint, amidst negative circumstances. Patience in the original language paints a slightly different picture.
Patience in this case is a compound word. The first part means long. The second part is a picture of the center, or hub, of energy. It can be translated as patience, forbearance, or long-suffering. It is trying to paint a picture of restraint in the face of provocation.
One way of looking at it: it is the opposite of having a short fuze. Having a short fuze is an English idiom, that indicates a person's tendency to get angry quickly when faced with any negative input. So, someone, who is patient, has a long fuze ... a very long fuze.
Patience seeks another person's best by not adding fuel to the fire. Anger tends to stir up more anger. Which will not solve any interpersonal problem. Patience is a mindset that values solving any issue, because the person is valuable, and the relationship with him is valuable.
Jesus was talking with a group of people, and someone asked him what was the most important commandment. Jesus quoted a part of the Bible that said we should love God. That was command #1. And command #2 was to love people.
How does one love God? After all, it's not like we can give him a birthday present, or treat him to dinner.
At the Last Supper, Jesus shared with his disciples that we show God love when we keep his commandments. So, in order to keep command #1, we need to keep command #2.
There are a lot of people who call followers of Jesus hypocrites. Many, because we say we are supposed to love people, but we do not. And this is partly true. As followers of Jesus, if we are honest, we know that we continue to sin, because sin is still present in our lives. We are forgiven, but not yet perfected. So, we do not always follow Jesus as we should.
But, I think we could argue that, because of sin, not one single individual maintains their standard of right and wrong. So, everyone on the planet says one thing and does another. So, everyone on the planet is a hypocrite.
Just as there are some people who are more moral than others, there are some people who are less hypocritical than others. But everyone has a moral standard, and everyone breaks it at some point. Which ー someone acting contrary to their beliefs ー is the definition of hypocrisy, as I understand it.
Another part is how one defines love. One loves one's spouse, or partner. One loves members of one's family. And one loves pizza. These are all loves, but these are all different from one another.
Scripture recognizes multiple kinds of love: between spouse/partner, between friends, between parents and children, and one that should be expressed to neighbors, strangers, and enemies. In other words, everyone!
Scripture does not give a definition for this love. But it does give a list of characteristics that the author (Paul, in this case) intends to paint a picture of what this love looks like. I am intending to do a series of short posts to examine each of these characteristics. I am hoping to increase our understanding of love, and, maybe, I can grow in loving people better.
As Israel was escaping from Egypt, and returning to Canaan, God gave instructions for building the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was intended to be a connection between Israel and God. It was also intended to be a picture of that connection.
There were areas, and artifacts, that were used to cleanse Israel from wrongs they committed. And there was one place that the presence of God resided. No one could enter that area, because each person's sin cut him off from God's presence. God was with his people, but sin prevented a close relationship.
Once a year, the high priest would enter that special place, after intense preparation, to offer a sacrifice of a perfect lamb -- one without blemish. The sins of Israel, committed unknowingly, would be covered by the blood of that lamb.
I noted earlier that the Tabernacle was a picture of the connection between God and people. And it has become a picture of God's solution for sin, and the reconciliation of people to God.
We could not enter God's presence because of our sin. But Jesus, the only one without sin, entered the Most Host Place for us, as our high priest. And he entered the Most Holy Place, as the unblemished lamb, for sacrifice.
The high priest brought the perfect sacrifice into God's presence; and the blood of the sacrifice covered the sins of all people. When the sins of people have been cleansed, they now have permission to go directly to God. There is no sin blocking them anymore.
It is written in the Gospels, that when Jesus died, immediately, the very thick, strong curtain, intended to block people from the Most Holy Place, was torn in two. There was nothing to block normal, every day people from moving into God's presence. Each person has the opportunity to stand next to God's throne, to hear God's voice, and to see his face.
Jesus mad provision for this. We do not have this right, or opportunity, until Jesus' provision becomes ours. That's why the Bible talks about faith. God wants everyone to have this close, and intimate, access. And Jesus' death gives us the means to open the door, and use the opportunity. But faith is the open hands to take the means as our possession. And taker the open relationship as our possession. We can say to God, "You have made this opportunity, this gift, available. I want to take what you are giving."
God is still concerned about sin, and about how we live our lives. But because of Jesus, our high priest, and the torn curtain, a whole, new way of dealing with right living becomes possible, and available to those who respond in faith.
The word "gospel" is derived from old English, which in turn is derived from the Greek work "euangelion". It means simply "good news".
The gospel is a proclamation of good news, namely:
God designed all of life. God designed human beings, a relationship between God and people, and a relationship between people.
One way of looking at sin: a person thinking, acting, or speaking outside of the design specifications. Moreover, a person could live within the specs, but have the attitude that the Engineer did not make a good design. This person's design was superior to the Engineer's, and this person chooses to live according to their personal design.
Even God's people do not always live by his design specifications.
God's primary spec is love. So, God's people should be especially characterized by love.
Too many of God's people see people living outside of God's specs, and respond with anger.
Love is not happy when people live outside of God's design. Because love wants the best for people, love wants people to embrace God's design. So, love is happy when a person takes a step toward agreement with God's design.
But anger is contrary to patience. Ignoring, or refusing to work for someone else's benefit, is contrary to kindness. Giving up on someone is contrary to hoping all things.
God's people need to agree, and abide in God's design in all matters, and all situations, in thought, internal agreement, and practice.
