Maturing in Love With God

I Corinthians 13:1-8 ESV
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

(note: the NLT says “if I don’t love others” but that narrows down the meaning of the original Greek.)

 

In the past when I read this passage, I had always thought about how this describes how I ought to love other people. I saw it as a good way to evaluate and choose my responses to others. Later, as I thought about how “God is love,” I realized it also describes God’s attitudes and actions towards me and all mankind. It helped me understand what God is like.
Most recently, however, I realized that since the most important command is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength,” (Luke 10:27) that this passage describes how my attitude and behavior should be towards God.

 

I may demonstrate spiritual gifts, be able to speak truth that impacts others for Christ, and live sacrificially, yet my heart and motives be for another reason besides out of love for God. Perhaps I am trying to earn His love. Perhaps I am trying to prove to myself or to others that I am a good Christian. Perhaps I want to accomplish God’s work in my own strength and am not really humbly dependent on Him. Perhaps I am seeking a sense of belonging, identity or value among other Christians by doing these things. There may be many reasons, none of them due to love for God that overflows into these actions.
There’s an example in Revelation where they worked hard, endured persecution, held to sound doctrine, but not out of love for Jesus. The Scripture doesn’t say what their motive(s) were, but it’s clear that God looks on the heart and it matters to Him;
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:2-4)

 

When God says to love Him with all that we are, the question would be, what does it look like when one is loving God? What will flow out of our heart, our attitudes and behaviors when we are acting out of love of God? These verses tell us some of that. You can go through each characteristic and think of ways in which we sometimes fail or succeed in loving God in that way.
Also, very important to remember, we cannot love God in this way by our own ability. God is love, therefore He is the source of love that we have for Him and others. So we need to ask God to fill us increasingly with His own perfect love so that we can love Him as He deserves to be loved. As His Holy Spirit transforms us, we are increasingly able to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Here are examples:

 

Love is patient.
When God is at work in me, in others, in relationships and situations, do I wait patiently for Him? Do I say, “Father, waiting is hard for me, but I trust You and I want You to do this in Your own time.” Abraham and Sarah got impatient with God’s timing, so they decided to fulfill God’s plan themselves with Hagar, and it lead to much pain.

 

Love is kind.
Am I considerate of God? Do I do the things that delight Him, such as enjoying Him, who He is and what He does, speaking well of Him before others, spending time with Him in prayer, offering my availability to be used by Him each day?

 

Love does not envy.
Do I have a bad attitude towards God because He’s given others something that I want, perhaps a good job, a spouse, a spiritual gift that He did not give me, opportunities, etc? It is love to be content, rather than to envy. To be content with the small, unnoticed ministry that He has given me, or the spiritual gift that seems very common-place or the job that’s hard to be at or a less-than-perfect family. To look at the blessings He has given me and be grateful.

 

Love does not boast.
Do I try to fix things myself when God wants me to depend on Him? When God points out a sin or failure in my life, do I resist admitting to it, or do I humbly agree with Him (confess my sin), repent and ask Him to purify me? Do I do things with a subtle desire to be noticed and praised, instead of helping people direct their thoughts to God’s glory (i.e. do I try to steal God’s glory)?

 

Love is not arrogant.
Arrogant definition is – exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one’s own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner. When I am arrogant with God, I treat Him like my servant. I make my plans and tell Him to bless them, rather than seeking His will for my overall life and for each situation. When I am arrogant with God, I tell Him that He must heal this person because I am praying in faith, or that He must fulfill His Scriptural promise to me in a certain way and certain timing. When I am arrogant with God, I assume He owes me something. When I love God, I realize that He owes me nothing, and I owe Him everything. When I love God, I remember that everything He gives me is an undeserved gift. I listen, and ask, and thank, but I do not tell Him what to do.

 

Love is not rude.
When I love God, I sit quietly in His presence and listen to all He has to say through prayer or Scripture instead of doing all the talking myself. When I love God, I let Him go first, and I follow Him throughout my life. When I love God, I don’t use His Name as a common exclamation or cuss word, but I always speak His Name (God, Lord, Jesus, Father etc) with respect. I am honest with God, and I express my feelings to Him, but I always remember that He is the Great and Holy King, He has paid the price to buy me from death, so loving Him means being polite towards Him. Jesus taught us politeness in addressing God with respect, “Our Father in heaven, holy is Your Name…”

 

Love does not insist on its own way.
When it comes to our relationship with God, what is it called when we insist on our own way? Sin! Eve loved herself more than God (so she wanted to be as good as God in her knowledge of good and evil), so she insisted on her own way in eating the fruit. Adam loved Eve more than God, so he insisted on his own way in joining her rather than obeying God. When I love God, I choose not to sin. Sin is failure to love God more than my own desires. Jesus loved His Father in the garden when He expressed His feelings and desire to not have to suffer, but then said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

 

Love is not irritable or resentful.
Resentful is an attitude of ingratitude, and irritable is how you act this out (when the irritability isn’t physiologically caused, like PMS, low blood sugar, over-tired or anxiety/depression). They are not feelings, but a state of being. Jonah is an example of one who failed to love God, and to love what God loves:
“When God saw what they (Ninevah) did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Do you do well to be angry?… And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?'” (Jonah 3:10-4:1-4, 4:11)

 

Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
“When Peter came to Antioch, I told him face to face that he was wrong. He used to eat with Gentile followers of the Lord, until James sent some Jewish followers. Peter was afraid of the Jews and soon stopped eating with Gentiles. He and the other Jews hid their true feelings so well that even Barnabas was fooled. But when I saw that they were not really obeying the truth that is in the good news, I corrected Peter in front of everyone.” —Galatians 2: 11
When Paul corrected Peter, was Peter glad that the truth was brought out? It would have been very embarrassing and difficult for Peter, but if he loved God and wanted God’s ways to prevail, he would have been glad to be corrected (might have taken a while for his feelings to get there, though!)
When someone has mistreated me, am I glad when I see them get mistreated? Or do I rejoice and praise God when I see them receive forgiveness and blessing from Him? I am loving God when I rejoice to see His work being done as the light of His truth shines on me and others.

 

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
When my circumstances are confusing, painful, overwhelming, hopeless, love focuses me on God and who He is. I accept from His hand what He allows, believing His promises, hoping instead of despairing, enduring what He has called me to for His glory.
Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

When we stand before Him, we will be perfect in love for Jesus has promised to complete His good work in us and we will love Him for all eternity.

 

Philippians 1:6
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”