1 Corinthians 13:7

Good morning, Five Minute Families. We have all heard the love verses. Even people who do not attend church are likely familiar with the “Love is patient. Love is kind” beginning of 1 Corinthians 13:4. We’ve discussed the types of love here on Five Minute Family before, so that isn’t where we are hitting on today. Today, we are looking more deeply into the verbs found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. The beginning of these verses explain why love is important. To paraphrase John MacArthur: Having a right understanding and expression of genuine, godly love is necessary to fully use the gifts from God or even have complete knowledge of God himself. The first eight verbs in verses four and five are linking verbs describing what love is and what love does. The next eight verbs are at the end of verse five and through the beginning of verse eight. Those verbs are action words. Thus, we can conclude that love is both descriptive AND active. Let’s dive deeper specifically into the four action verbs of 1 Corinthians 13:7 - “[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” “Bear all things.” ‘To bear’ means ‘to cover with silence.’ Let’s look at an example: Parents, shaming your child as a means of punishment and then posting it for views is NOT bearing all things. Do not blast on social media when a loved one has wronged you or sinned in some way. 2 Corinthians 2:5-8 reminds us, “If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree—not to exaggerate—to all of you. This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person. As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.” So, in our parenting example, even in the midst of your anger, there is an opportunity to reaffirm your love. “Believe all things.” ‘To believe’ means ‘to have faith in / to entrust a thing to one.’ Our spouses and children mess up. We mess up. We may not believe in the person