Love 3 // 1 Corinthians 13:6
Today’s dip into 1 Corinthians 13 shows us further about how we are to conduct our lives in love when things don’t go our way. We see we are not to delight in evil, bur rejoice with the truth. This reveals something pretty insidious about our human nature. We struggle to be happy when we see someone celebrating something we feel we deserve. Sports is a simple way to help illustrate this, and last year’s Braves team in particular. I loved to see how well the Braves played against the Phillies in the regular season. They went 8-5, and were an offensive juggernaut for almost the entirety of the season. Even though the Phillies embarrassed them in the 2022 playoffs, I felt the Braves had an excellent shot at advancing in the playoffs since they were better than the Phillies in the season, better than their own team in 2022, and would likely want to see revenge for the egg they laid in the previous season’s playoffs. Do you remember what happened? The Braves were arguably worse, and it infuriated me. As a result, I took great joy in the Phillies losing in the playoffs to the Diamondbacks. I didn’t care about Arizona winning the NLCS or the Rangers winning the World Series, I rejoiced in the fact the Phillies lost. Ouch. Can you relate? This is why we see love doesn’t rejoice in suffering, but truth. And note how it’s worded in the verse: love “rejoices with the truth.” And what is truth? None other than Jesus! This should galvanize the idea that love is relational, and our heart should rejoice with the victories of others even if it comes at our own expense. Does that sound like a tall order? You bet it does, which is precisely why our core loving relationship must be with God first! In closing, may we remember what Jesus said was the greatest of all commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
