1 Corinthians 13:4-11
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.”
In popular culture there’s a term called ‘adulting’. I really like it because by creating an action word of the noun adult, we more directly emphasize the character, personality and perspective of what we expect from a stable, mature and healthy person of a certain age. And while age is relevant, it isn’t the overarching component or single determining factor for adulthood. There’s much more to adulting gracefully than simply getting older. Especially those of us that desire to “Adult Like Jesus”.
Corinthians 13 is a chapter about love. It opens with love and closes with love, and speaks about love all throughout the chapter. But the biblical definition of love mentioned in these verses differ from the generic definitions we often attribute to it. In this Corinthian epistle love is synonymous with charity. It gives, shares, uplifts, encourages and supports. It’s not simply a feeling or an emotion. It’s work. It’s participatory and meaningful interaction with others. It’s an action word. A word just like adulting.
I found the relationship between love and adulting interesting. Did you notice that right in the middle of the conversation about love the writer throws in a seemingly obscure reference to adulting? Look at the 11th verse again. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” And he’s not changing the subject here because directly after this verse he continues talking about love. We gotta understand, there’s a connection between the two.
Too often we resort to reducing love to a romantic gesture of some kind. We mistakenly believe that buying expensive gifts, spoiling our partners, eating, drinking and living lavishly are indicators of true love. But seldom do these things meet the standard of the ‘agape’ love of Christ. Our commercialized version of love comes with conditions. There’s always some quid pro quo or reciprocal payment demand that comes with our investment. But that’s not the kind of love Christ shares with us. He love us in spite of all our failings, fallings, marks and scars. His is a perfect love. The love described here in these verses.
So let’s juxtapose immature infatuation with the mature love of Christ. A child is by nature selfish and immature. A baby doesn’t care what her mother is doing. When she is hungry mom gotta stop and feed her. When he’s soiled or sleepy dad has to drop everything to care for the child. But as we mature and grow older, hopefully we understand that it’s now our turn to serve. It’s a sad situation when you have a bunch of old folk acting like spoiled children. And here’s the sentence I value the most in this discourse. The writer testifies that when he matured, “(he) put away childish things.”
So let me leave you with this thought. No doubt there are things we wait on the Lord to provide. There are heavenly heights and spiritual depths we can never reach without the direct and personal assistance of the Holy Spirit. But maturing in God isn’t one of those things. Maturing in God is a decision. The man of God declared, I put away childish things.” So if you call yourself “grown” in Christ, don’t tell me you’re waiting on Jesus. Don’t sit around crying about what not right in your fellowship. Don’t blame everybody else for what’s not happening in the church. The question is what are you doing? Have you put away childish things?
Beloved of God, love works if you work it. It never fails. But it’s not child’s play. It’s adulting. Adulting like Christ!
God Bless.
