Love Is Patient
Devotional for November 7 · 1 Corinthians 13:4 · 12-minute read
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Context
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, probably around AD 53 to 55, to a church he himself had founded in Corinth, a wealthy, cosmopolitan port city known for its social competition and its cult of public image. Paul had spent about a year and a half there (Acts 18:11). The church had spiritual gifts in abundance, but also divisions, lawsuits between believers, pride and disorder in its gatherings (1 Cor 1; 6; 11).
Chapter 13 is read at weddings, but it was not written for a wedding. It sits between chapters 12 and 14, which deal with the use of gifts in the church. The Corinthians were arguing over who had the most impressive gift, especially speaking in tongues. Paul interrupts the argument to show a more excellent way (1 Cor 12:31). The love of chapter 13 is, first of all, the correction of a community that was using even the things of God to show off.
What the text says
- v. 1-3: Paul lists extraordinary things, such as speaking in the tongues of angels, having faith that moves mountains and giving everything to the poor, and concludes that without love “I am nothing.” The problem is not the gifts, but gifts cut off from love.
- v. 4: The first two marks of love are “patient” and “kind.” In the original Greek, Paul uses verbs, not adjectives: love waits patiently, love acts with kindness. It is a description of actions, not of feelings.
- v. 5: The list includes what love does not do: “it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.” That last expression comes from bookkeeping: love does not keep a ledger of debts to collect later.
Reflection
It is easy to read 1 Corinthians 13 with background music and flowers. But its first hearers probably felt uncomfortable. Paul was speaking to people who competed for status in the church, who looked down on the poorer members at the Lord's Supper and who used their gifts as trophies. Every phrase from verse 4 onward was a mirror: you envy, you boast, you are proud. Love is not.
The first word is patient. The Greek term describes someone with a long fuse, someone slow to explode. In the Greek Bible it is used to describe God Himself, who is slow to anger. Patience, then, is neither passivity nor naivety. It is the strength of someone who could react on the spot and chooses to wait, to give time, not to pay back. And it comes paired with kindness: it is not just putting up with the other person in silence, it is acting on their behalf.
An old exercise helps us see the text. Replace the word love with the name of Jesus. Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus is not self-seeking. It fits perfectly, because the chapter describes His way of being. Now replace it with your own name. For most of us, the reading gets stuck right at the start. This swap is not a claim the text makes; it is a form of meditation. But it reveals something true: the love described here does not originate in us. We receive this love first, at the cross, where Christ loved those who did not yet love Him (Rom 5:8).
This changes how you deal with the difficult person who comes to mind as you read, whether a child, a coworker, a spouse or someone at church. Biblical love does not require you to pretend that person does not hurt you, or to accept abuse in the name of patience. Loving also means rejoicing in the truth (v. 6), and truth sometimes calls for boundaries. But love refuses the bookkeeping of resentment. It does not keep the list of offenses to use in the next argument.
Paul closes by saying that prophecies, tongues and knowledge will pass away, but love never fails (v. 8). What the Corinthians admired most was temporary. What they neglected was eternal. Perhaps it is the same with us. Today the question is not how much love you feel, but which patient and kind act you will choose, especially toward the person who is hardest to love.
Connections
- Romans 5:8 (editorial reading): The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 finds its model at the cross, where Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
- 1 John 4:19 (cross-reference): We love because God loved us first: patient love is a response, not something we produce on our own.
- Exodus 34:6 (cross-reference): God reveals Himself as slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, the same pair of qualities that opens v. 4.
To apply
- Heart: In what situation have I been confusing love with feeling, waiting to feel before I act?
- Relationships: Whom am I keeping a list of offenses against, and what would it mean to stop keeping that account?
- Today: Choose one difficult person and do a concrete act of kindness for them, without announcing it and without expecting anything back.
Prayer
Father, You are patient and kind with me every day, and in Jesus You loved me when I did not yet love You. I worship You for this love that keeps no account of my failures. I confess that I am impatient, that I get irritated easily and that I hold on to offenses to collect on later. I confess that I often seek my own interests. Fill me with Your love by Your Spirit. Teach me to be patient and kind, especially with the person who is hard for me today. In Jesus' name, Amen.
To memorize: 1 Corinthians 13:4
Today's step: In the next 24 hours, when you feel irritated with someone, wait ten seconds before responding and choose a kind word instead of a demand.
To go deeper: read 1 Corinthians 12–14 and get to know Love.