Paul has moved from what love isn’t to what love is. Love is patient. Full stop. Love is kind. Period. Love does not envy or boast. Ever. It is not arrogant or rude. Not even when tempted. It does not insist on its own way. Even when it believes it is in the right. It is not irritable or resentful. Never. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Love doesn’t take pleasure in sin, doesn’t laugh when the Lord’s name is taken in vain, love isn’t happy when the world succeeds illicitly, or in an ungainly manner. Love rejoices with the truth. Love only rejoices with Godliness.
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Perhaps one of the most beautiful sentences in scripture. It perfectly encapsulates the life of love. The hardship of bearing all things, the heartache of believing all things, the melancholy of hoping all things, and the harsh reality of enduring all things. If you truly want to be a loving Christian, be this kind of Christian; day in and day out.