Litany of Love – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

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. (ESV)

Love is patient, because it is not concerned to meet its own needs. It can afford to wait for another to grow or change or realize he or she has been hurting you or others. When a driver in front of me is traveling too slowly for me and I get impatient it is because I am more concerned about my needs than the driver’s needs in front of me. Of course, when someone is impatient with me it is irritating and I do not feel loved. I feel minimized and devalued.

Love is kind, because it is concerned that the other receives the full love of God into their lives and knows that is only motivated by kindness. One who loves can afford to be kind because he has had kindness shown toward him by God and others and because his heart is full and overflowing with goodwill toward all. When someone is not kind to me I feel rejected and harmed.

Love does not envy, because love wants what is best for others and rejoices when they receive it. Love trusts itself to God’s provision, knowing He will give us what we need when we need it. We don’t have to envy another when we know we can trust ourselves to a loving God who knows our needs and desires and is eager to meet them. Love knows that what God chooses for us is always the best He has to give.

Love does not boast, because boasting would imply that we deserve the credit that we seek to give ourselves and love knows that God’s regard is unconditional and free despite our failures to earn it. Love also knows that boasting would potentially make others feel demeaned and spurs anger and resentment.

Love is not arrogant or rude, because it seeks to build others up, not tear them down, and because it sees others as bearing the delightful image of God and wants to affirm that image as much as possible. Arrogance only affirms I am better than you and does not speak the truth about how special and valuable you are, and rudeness depicts you as more of an impediment to my goals than as one with worthy goals of your own.

Love does not insist on its own way, because its own way might not meet your needs or even God’s overall purpose for our lives together. Insisting on my way is not loving but rather attracts all the attention to me, as if I am more important than anyone else. That contradicts love.

Love is not irritable or resentful, because it does not take offense at you if you succeed, desiring exactly that for you whether I succeed or not, and does not take offense if you fail, desiring only that you find that failure helpful to your future endeavor and find a step for improvement from it.

Love rejoices in truth, not in wrongdoing, because it knows that wrongdoing hurts the wrongdoer and truth sets the person free.

Love bears all things, in the sense of showing forbearance toward those who are struggling and negatively affecting us. This is because we don’t need to change them for our sakes and know only God can and we love them enough to want that for them.

Love believes all things, in the sense of believing the best about a person, not naively, but with the realization that God can redeem anyone and desiring that for one of God’s precious creatures.

Love hopes all things, always anticipating that change can occur and staying open to that possibility in someone’s life who is on the wrong path.

Love endures all things, knowing that nothing we suffer in this life is able to separate us from God’s love and loving even those who persecute us, desiring their redemption.