1 If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. 3 If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end. As for tongues, they will stop. As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end. 9 We know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things. 12 Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known. 13 Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13 CEB
By most accounts this passage written by Paul is considered the greatest definition of love ever written. It is common, or normal, practice to have this passage read during a wedding.
How do so many couples get from this to divorce court?
When did divorce become the norm?
For that matter when did love and sex become synonymous?
We have perverted love in so many ways that there are too many to count!
Based on the current stats from the Journal of Psychology and Christianity 65% of husbands and 55% of wives will commit adultery by age forty.
When did that become the norm?
The problem is that Christians aren't any different. We mirror nearly every societal norm as it relates to divorce, adultery, and pornography.
When did that become the norm in the church?
Why is that we hold up the definition of love in I Corinthians as THE definition and then allow it to be come the exception?
When will we learn to love in this weird way?
How will we love?
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