As I was driving down I.581 last night I noticed the large lighted heart that they  had placed on the side of Roanoke Memorial Hospital. I am not sure if they have  it there for the Heart Association or if it is there to celebrate Valentine Day  which is coming up. It doesn’t really matter except that it made me think about
the attribute of “love.’ During the month of February we often think of love  don’t we? Well, the Apostle Paul lists fifteen characteristics of Christian love  in 1 Corinthians 13.

1. Love is patient. The Greek word (makrothumein) means patience with people and not patience with circumstances. It describes the man who is slow to anger and it is used of God Himself in his relationship with men. Such patience is not the sign of weakness but the sign of strength.

2. Love is kind. Origin had it that this means that love is "sweet to all." So much Christianity is good but unkind. Sadly, many good people have an attitude of criticism. I wonder how many “church people’ would have sided with the Jewish Rulers and not with Jesus if they had had to deal with the woman caught in adultery?

3. Love knows no envy. I have heard it said that there are only two classes of people in this world--"those who are millionaires and those who would like to be."  Well, there are two kinds of envy as well…the one covets the possessions of other people. The other is worse…he grudges the fact that others should have what he doesn’t have; he doesn’t so much want things for himself as he wishes that
others had not got them at all!

4. Love is not boastful. Some people are in love with the idea that they are doing somebody a favor. But the real lover cannot ever get over the wonder that he is loved. Love is kept
humble!

5. Love is not proud. The really humble man doesn’t focus on his own importance. William Carey, who was once a shoe cobbler, became one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen. This man actually translated parts of the Bible into thirty-four Indian languages. When he came to India, he was regarded with contempt. Once, at a dinner party of a highly thought of man, someone asked in a
condescending tone, "Mr. Carey, did you once work as a shoe-maker?" "Oh no,"answered Carey, "not a
shoe-maker, only a cobbler!"  This great man of God didn’t even claim to make shoes--only to mend them.

6. Love is not rude. In Greek, the words for grace and for charm are the same. There should be graciousness in Christian love which never forgets that courtesy, tact and politeness are lovely things.

7. Love is not self-seeking. Most of our problems in life could be avoided if we would think less of our rights and more of our duties. Whenever we start thinking about "ourselves" and "our place" then we begin drifting away from Christian love.

8. Love is not easily angered. When we lose our tempers, we lose everything. Kipling said that it was the test of a man if he could keep his head when everyone else was losing his. The man who is master of his temper can be master of anything.

9. Love keeps no record of wrongs.The word translated keeps (logizesthai) is an accountant’s
word. It is the word used for entering up an item in a ledger so that it will  not be forgotten. Isn’t that what many people do?  Too many people brood over their wrongs until it is impossible to forget them. To
have Christian love is to have learned the great lesson of forgetting.

10. Love does not delight in evil. This is best understood as meaning, “love finds no pleasure in anything that is wrong.” Christian love should not find any pleasure in bad reports.

 11. Love rejoices with the truth. Christian love has no desire to hide the truth; it has nothing to hide and so is glad when the truth is revealed.

12. Love always protects. It is possible that this may mean "love can cover anything."  Christian
  love would rather mend things than display them in public.


13. Love always trust. This characteristic has a twofold meaning. (1) In relation to God, it means that
love takes God at His Word. (2) In relation to our fellow men, it means that love always believes the best about other people. 
 
14. Love always hopes.Hope here means to expect to know! Love "knows" that God has everything under His control and rests in that promise.

15. Love always perseveres. The verb used here (hupomenein) is translated to bear or to endure but what it really describes is not the spirit which can passively bear things, but the spirit which can conquer.
 
In verse 13, Paul writes three final things about Christian love as he ends this chapter.
1. Love never fails. The Song of Solomon 8:7 says "Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away." The one unconquerable thing is love. Barclay says "When love is entered into, there comes into life a relationship against which the assaults of time are helpless and which transcends death."

2. Love perfects us. Love makes us complete. (I John 4:12-18) Love matures us, it allows us to see ourselves as we truly are and God for Who He truly is. Love keeps us from acting like children only concerned for our own desires. It is a process which will not be complete until Christ’s return.

3. Love is supreme. Faith and hope are great but love is even greater! Faith without love is cold, and hope without love is grim. You see, love is the fire which kindles faith and it is the light which turns hope into certainty.

 God bless,

 Pastor
Jim Asberry