Paul had been talking about unity in the church. How can we who are so different from each other become a community that works together effectively and powerfully to embody the kingdom of heaven on earth where God reigns in peace and joy? To answer this, Paul writes a beautiful ode to love.
The kind of love Paul writes of is agape love, which is less of a feeling and more of an intentional act. This definition of love is attributed to God’s very nature (1 Jn 4:8). We must intentionally love others by accepting others as they are, without judgment. This is hard because often we are not rooted in God’s love. We can only love when we experience and accept God’s love for us.
The more you practice loving others, the more your soul sings and creates a beautiful synergy of connection that builds each other up. Love is never selfish but always in connection with God and others. We are created to love and to be loved and without love, no matter how talented, faithful, or powerful we are, we gain nothing.
Jun 23, 2026
LOVE IS THE ANSWER
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Key verse: 2
NIV
chapter 13
1. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10. but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Prayer: Lord, your love sees us as we truly are and embraces us with tender mercy. May we love others in the same way.
One Word: Love one another