Since it was Valentine’s Day this past Sunday I preached about love from I Corinthians 13. This passage is the most profound piece on love ever written and I call it “The Bible’s Love Song.” I call it a love song because it can be divided into three stanzas. And it is a love song like no other love song that has been or ever will be written.

Verses 1-3 provide the first stanza and it tells us Love Is Essential. Verses 4-7 give us the second stanza and Describe Love telling us what love is, what it does, and what it doesn’t do. Finally, verses 8-13 form the third stanza and tell us Love Is Eternal.

The first stanza proclaims that without love wonderful speech, great spirituality, and sacrificial giving aren’t that impressive. And it is a troubling thought to think someone could speak in tongues, have the gift of prophecy, fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, have a faith that can move mountains, or sacrifice everything, and yet not have love.

The third stanza proclaims that contrasted with prophesy, tongues, and knowledge, love will endure and continue forever. In the here and now faith, hope, and love all remain. Nevertheless, some day our faith will become sight and our hope will be fulfilled. But because it is the greatest, love will last forever.

But it’s the second stanza I want us to focus on. In the message I did what I have done many times before suggesting that we all substitute our name for love in the description Paul gives. To make clear what I was saying I read verses 4-7 putting in my name in place of love. And after all these years of being a Christian, a pastor, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a neighbor, a friend, a teacher, and many other roles, I was overwhelmed. More than any other time I had used this illustration in the past, I realized how far short I fall in terms of living out and showing this description of love.

I invite you to read these verses (possibly out loud) putting your name in place of love:   ⁴ [your name] is patient, [your name] is kind. [Your name] does not envy, [your name] does not boast, [your name] is not proud. ⁵[Your name] does not dishonor others, [your name] is not self-seeking, [your name] is not easily angered, [your name] keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ [Your name] does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ [Your name] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In doing this I hope you are convicted, challenged, and encouraged as much as I was when I did it in front of the church on Sunday. “Dear friends let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I John 4:7 and 8).

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