1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Questions of Love
Patient -Have I given enough time to this situation?
Kind – Is this best for me or the other person?
No Envy -Do I want what the other person has or do I want to take it from them?
Boast – Is this to add to my greatness or God’s?
Arrogance – Is this because I am more important?
Rude – Was this a reaction without thought?
Insist – Do I have to be right on this?
Irritated-Does this situation just bother me?
Resentful – What am I afraid to ask?
Wrong doing – Does this make someone stumble or look bad?
Truth – Is this fact or fiction?
Bearing all – Can I live with the consequences?
Believing all – Do I believe that God holds the outcome?
Hoping all – Do I trust that Gods plant is better than mine?
Enduring all – Am I willing to stand along side for as long as I am asked?
I must be willing to ask and answer these questions honestly before I know with certainty that I am loving properly.
