Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Alzheimers is a terrible disease. We watch as our mother or father retreat into a world we know nothing about. We can watch vibrant and fun loving people slowly split away. In the process, we learn that real love is not always easy or convenient.

We learn that behind the memory loss, confusion, and utter helplessness is a beautiful person who loves life and is at complete peace.

The Bible reminds us that love is patient and kind.

Real love originated with our Father, who gave us the gift of His Son.

Real love is helping others for Jesus’ sake even if they can never return the favor.

Our Daily Bread – November 26, 2013