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Welcome to another episode of Jubilee Life Coach's Life Blog. Today we take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Now, 1 Corinthians 13 is often remembered as the love chapter. It is read at weddings and heard almost like a beautiful poem. But the apostle is not speaking first about romantic love. He's actually addressing a church where spiritual gifts had become a source of comparison, boasting and injury. So chapter thirteen then should not be detached from chapter twelve. If chapter twelve says we're one body, chapter thirteen is saying that body can only move in health when it moves in love. And the apostle says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 31, and I will show you a still more excellent way. Here the most excellent way is not the rejection of spiritual gifts, it is the way by which gifts are made alive through love. But this love is not an abstract virtue. Love does not exist merely as an idea, but love has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. So before 1 Corinthians thirteen says love more, it first whispers in Christ you have already been loved. So you see, love is not merely a concept, love has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. So 1 Corinthians thirteen says if I have not love, I am a noisy gong, I am nothing. So the apostle deliberately names some of the most impressive possibilities in the church speaking in tongues, prophetic powers, deep knowledge, mountain moving faith, radical generosity, even bodily sacrifice. Then he places one condition over all of it. But all of those things are excellent and great and mighty and powerful, Paul says, but without love, without love, the most beautiful speech becomes just noise. Without love, the deepest knowledge does not heal, and without love even the most sacrificial service can still orbit around the self. It becomes a selfish act. I am nothing. This does not mean that our gifts have no value or that every effort that we have ever made is meaningless. No, it means that gifts without love cannot build the body of Christ. Gifts may attract attention, love restores souls. Gifts may display our ability, love displays Christ. So you see, without love, gifts stop becoming channels that build others up and become stages on which that we try to prove ourselves. But the Bible says love is patient and kind, it does not insist on its own way. So the apostle does not describe love mainly as a feeling. He describes love as embodied action, patience, kindness, freedom from envy, freedom from boasting, humility, honor, self forgetfulness, and each phrase addresses the Corinthians actual wounds. They were not patient with one another, they envied, they boasted, they behaved rudely to one another, and they saw it at their own advantage. So the apostle is not giving them an abstract ideal of love, he's naming the concrete shape of repentance within the community. But here we must not miss the order of the gospel, the order of the gospel. First Corinthians thirteen exposes us and that I'm not patient, I'm not consistently kind, I envy, I boast, I protect my own advantage. And yet precisely there this passage leads us to Jesus. Jesus was patient, Jesus was kind, and Jesus did not exalt himself, Jesus did not seek his own advantage. On the cross, Jesus showed us in his own body what love is. So therefore, Jesus is not merely our example of love, he is the source of love. When we behold him, we are not simply crushed by the moral burden of trying harder. We're first comforted by the gospel. This is how the Lord has loved me. And then the Spirit begins to let that received love flow through our words, attitudes, and relationships. So you see, love does not abandon truth, love rejoices with the truth. Yet we must remember truth without love can crush people, and love without truth cannot heal them. So in the gospel, truth and love do not compete, they complement, they meet at the cross. The cross reveals God's truth about sin and God's love for sinners. So Jesus is more than an example of love, he is love fulfilled. We're not saved because we love, but we are formed into people who love because we have been already loved by Christ. So the apostle says that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will one day pass away, and many things that feel essential now will not last forever. Our roles will pass, our positions will pass, human recognition will pass, and even the abilities we once took pride pride in will pass. But love will not pass away because love belongs to the life of God, and that love has already come to us in Christ. So we see dimly now, therefore we must be humble. We know in part, therefore we need grace with one another. Even when I am convinced that I am right, I'm still seeing only in part. Now this does not mean that we abandon truth, it means that we hold truth with humility. The Lord is the one who knows fully, and we are learners before Him always. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Faith clings to the Christ that we do not yet see. Hope waits for the kingdom not yet fully revealed. Love pours the life we have received from Christ into the lives of our neighbors now. And that is why the greatest is love. Not because faith and hope are unnecessary, but because love is the visible fruit of faith and hope. True faith works through love. True hope refuses to give up on love. So you see, 1 Corinthians thirteen is not merely a chapter that says love more. No, it first says you have been loved. Love is patient because the Lord, Jesus Christ, has been patient with us. Love is kind because the Lord has come to us in kindness. Love does not seek its own way because Christ gave Himself for us. The cross is not only the standard of love, it is the source of love. Therefore, love does not cancel gifts, love gives gifts their life, and love does not despise knowledge. Love makes knowledge humble. Love does not cool zeal, love makes zeal endure. Love does not make the church sentimental, love makes the church more truly the body of Christ. The Spirit pours into us the love that we have received from Christ, and purifies our gifts through that love. So we love because we have been loved. Love has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit forms that love in us for the life of our neighbors. So that's it for today. Thanks again for joining us. And don't forget, um, on our website, jubileecoach.com, under the life blog section, not only will you find this recording, but also you will find uh Jubilee Coaching uh questions that looks deeper into the passage, and it's in both English and in Korean as well. So I encourage you to visit our homepage, uh especially if you're uh one of those people who are interested in learning either English or learning Korean. You can do both. Um alrighty. So uh oh, and besides that, we I also have some interesting um perspective, uh Christian perspective on the on the current news, what's happening uh around the new uh around the world. So I love for your feedbacks and I love to engage uh in these current events. So yeah, do visit our uh homepage, Jubileecoach.com, and do sign up. You will receive newsletters as well as you'll have an opportunity to uh leave comments and so forth. Alrighty. Well, thanks once again. Godspeed