"What The World Needs Now Is...Love!"

By John Stallings



We don’t control love. Love isn’t a tangible thing we can pick up off the floor, hold in our hands, caress and even throw against the wall.

Rather, love controls us. Love holds us in its hands and caresses us, and if you’ve had much experience you know love can throw us against the wall.

It’s helpful to have an understanding of the context of Paul’s statements on love to the church at Corinth. Corinth is located on an Isthmus in Greece. It had seaports on both the Adriatic & Agaean seas, was a center of commerce and a very important city in Greece. It became such a center of immorality they actuality made a religion out of it. Think Dodge City in the old west, or even modern day Vegas.

Corinth was a hotbed of immorality & it was in this city that Paul planted a church. Not surprisingly the church had problems & they were reported to Paul by people like Stephanas, Fortunatus & Achaicus who came to see him in Ephesus.

Paul was told of the immorality & the way the Lord’s Supper was being abused. Some were showing up drunk & being gluttonous. Others were in error about the Resurrection. They were also choosing sides & arguing over who the best preachers were. There were cliques, factions, animosities, backbiting & gossip going on; in short, it was too much like some of the churches I’ve known.

Division was the big problem Paul was addressing here. They had waded off into the spiritual “misty moonlight” sporting all the gifts. Paul was telling them it didn’t matter about how powerful the gifts were that they possessed; they meant nothing if not bathed in love.

Paul knew if he didn’t spell out love in simple terms it would go right over the heads of the Corinthians. He knew he was going to have to tell them what love is, then circle the field, come back around & tell them what love isn’t. In other words, Paul was going to have to preach love in them, up them, down them, over them, & around them. So he embarks on a whole chapter to accomplish this- 1 Corinthians 13.

Let’s keep in mind that when Paul uses the word love here he’s using the word “agape.” Maybe you’ll remember it. It simply means a selfless love for the welfare of others, not dependent on any loveableness in the person loved. It’s a product of a will to love in obedience to God’s command. Its love like Christ manifested on the cross. It has nothing to do with romance. It has nothing to do with friendship; it has nothing to do with emotion. It’s an act of the will.

Our basic understanding of God’s love is as flawed as we are. Eros or erotic love is what we hear most about in our culture. This of course is sexual love. As human beings we tend to embrace this kind of love. Eros love looks for something lovely or worth loving. Eros love is on a treasure hunt. This is the kind of love we give to things that are expensive, attractive or lends status to our lives.

Studies show that adults coo over & dote over “pretty” babies more than “plain ones.” If you don’t follow the news closely this may shock you but recently studies were released that show some parents (hopefully no one we know) will be more protective of “pretty” children than “plain” ones. Pretty kids are kept close in grocery stores while not so cute kids are left to wander all over the place, almost as if they wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared.

Agape love is a stronger, purer kind of love. This love is the kind that creates value in the object of the loved one. It’s the Amazing Love, the kind God has for you & me. In fact, were it not for this kind of love we’d have never been created in the first place. God created us so He could love & protect us & when man fell in The Garden of Eden He sent one third of all He was to redeem us. Romans 5.

Now let’s unpack Paul’s teaching to the Corinthians on Agape love. In a subtle way Paul is telling these people to “get a life” because all the other gifts they’re operating will burn on judgment day & minus love, they’ll have nothing to show for the time they spent on earth. Everything but love is perishable.

Paul never refutes the validity of the gifts the Corinthians were using but rather is warning them that they aren’t helpful without love. If I have faith to move a mountain but no love, I might throw it in someone else’s path. A person wielding the powerful gifts of the spirit without love would indeed be a dangerous individual.


The fifteen snapshots of love are as follows;


1. Love is PATIENT.

Love doesn’t demand immediate results. Love waits, waits, & waits some more. Love extends its grace in the most heated moments of life. Love isn’t easily frustrated & short-sided. Love considers the feeling of everyone involved. Love takes a long time before it will burst into flames.

2. Love is KIND.

Love doesn’t go on a rampage, like a bull in a China shop. Love thinks about the feelings of others. Love looks for ways to make peace & be helpful. It looks for the best in others. Love sees the good in a person that is often buried beneath layers of annoying characteristics.

3. Love isn’t JEALOUS.

Love won’t boil over with jealousy. It demonstrates an attitude of contentment for the way God has provided for others. It overcomes envy & resentment of others. Love wants others to thrive & blossom. Some will try to convince their spouse that the reason they’re so possessive is that they love & feel so deeply. This is obviously a ploy to cover for selfishness, the antitheses of love. If we allow it to, love will teach us to jump up & down over the good things happening to others.

4. Love doesn’t BOAST

Love is neither boastful, arrogant, conceited nor does it seek vainglory. Love has an accepting attitude of others gifts & abilities & also their weaknesses. Love doesn’t brag & isn’t puffed up with pride. When we love like God loves we will encourage others to succeed & are “watching their backs” so to speak.

5. Love isn’t ARROGANT,

Love doesn’t behave itself unseemly, and doesn’t go on rampages. Love isn’t obnoxious. It doesn’t harbor an inner sense of its own importance. It’s full of humility & recognition that every breath comes from God.

6. Love isn’t RUDE

Love will make us more tactful & polite. Love has a way of letting us see the needs of others more than our own needs. Love doesn’t seek to publicly embarrass & punish people & make public scenes.

7. Love doesn’t INSIST ON ITS OWN WAY

Love has a spirit of arbitration & encourages compromises & peace. It won’t be a party to confusion. Love is a truce seeker. Love is a peace-maker not just a peace-keeper. It seeks to bring all parties to the table & grieves at the thought of pettiness. Love doesn’t foster a rule-or-ruin spirit & will never ramrod people to get its own way.

When wise Solomon suggested cutting the baby in half to satisfy the two quarreling mothers, he knew the real mother wouldn’t allow it. Love won’t allow a church, home or nation to be torn asunder just to have its way. Love won’t cut things to pieces but bitterness & hatred will.

Love isn’t touchy. Some people are overly sensitive & cause those around them to walk on egg shells. They seem to need to live in bubble wrap.

8. Love isn’t IRRITABLE

Real love doesn’t overreact to people having differences of opinion. It’s never short tempered. Love shouldn’t be confused with softness because a loving parent will have to discipline a child, but its done out of love. If love for a three year old child is always shown in softness, the child probably won’t live to turn four.

9. Love isn’t RESENTFUL

Love doesn’t hold grudges & when hurt it forgives on the spot & moves forward with joy.


10. Love doesn’t REJOICE AT WRONG.


Love has a way of keeping us from enjoying it when bad things happen to others. Something twisted in human nature seems to make many people more ready to hear bad news than good news. People say “Did you hear about so-n-so” & go off with the dirty little details. Love won’t do this.

11. Love REJOICES IN RIGHT

Real love is thrilled to see justices served. It’s truly happy when things go right for others. Love rejoices in right.

12. Love BEARS ALL THINGS

Love enables us to hang in there when the going gets tough, no matter how difficult the situation. Love bears all things & will hold on when it seems all hope of a good outcome has vanished.

13. Love BELIEVES ALL THINGS

Love won’t accept a bad report on a person or situation unless compelled to do so. Love will encourage us to put the best construction on peoples & actions. In our world many people fly off the handle & jump to conclusions before they know the facts. Love isn’t gullible, naive’ or unrealistic but chooses to focus on the rose instead of the thorn. Love believes all things.

14. Love HOPES ALL THINGS

Love has a way of looking to God’s future & seeing a better day. Love is stubborn when it comes to a good outlook & holds to the proposition that God’s purposes will be accomplished no matter how things may look.

15. Love ENDURES ALL THINGS

Love never bails out, but helps outlast the circumstances & see them change. Love won’t cave in & give up but keeps on going even when all the prospects are negative. Love will endure even when it seems clear that others have evil motives & intentions. Love will do this because it delights in the virtue & happiness of others. Giving is to love what eating is to hunger. Giving is the way a Godly love manifests itself. 1 John 3:16-18.

Without acts of service, love has no skeletal structure. Love never fails. If you’ve had a problem succeeding, generate a giving, serving love & you can’t be defeated. Love, along with faith & hope will outlast the stars.

The hardest place to flesh out love is in families & marriages. Marriage isn’t a set-up where we say, “you do your part & I’ll do mine.” To be happy each partner must GIVE more than he/she expects to GET. If we try to use math to keep score we’ll be in crisis mode all the time.

How does your conduct measure up to Paul’s description of love? Do you manifest love in your dealings with others, be they friend or foe? How can God produce this kind of love in us? It starts with His saving grace & trust in Him. If you don’t know Jesus you’ll never be able to express or even understand agape love.

All God needs is our willingness to make ourselves available to Him. As He makes a home within us, our actions & attitudes change. Isn’t this what you & I, our families & those we relate to each day need more of?

As Christians we have our work cut out for us. Think of the multitudes of people all around us who don’t know God loves them. They need to hear that God loved them enough to send His son to save them.

Remember, we must show our love to the unlovely for without love our labor means nothing.

Luke 6:32 says..."If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? --New Living translation

 Love is truly the more excellent way.


Love is God's way!


Blessings,


John