Love is Indispensable

             I chose the title "Love is Indispensable" because I found it to be one of the least noticed titles in the Bible. The title represents 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. As I was up at 3 am on a Monday morning not being able to sleep, I was drawn to this passage. Mind you, I've read this passage many, many times. I always thought I knew what it was talking about. It's love, right? Yes, but it's much more than that. 
            As Christians, we can basically come to an agreement that God's love is unconditional and unfathomable. But my study revolved around a human, fleshly understanding of love written by a man.  I couldn't help but think I was drawn to this passage because of recent circumstances in my life that have me questioning the human definition of love. 
            People tell us all the time that they love us. I myself tell people on a daily basis that I love them. I realized it's a word that's thrown around casually for most people, much like the word hate. After even reading the first couple of paragraphs of Chapter 13 I started to wonder, "Why do we do that?" I've heard of there being four main types of love- agape (unconditional), philia (friendship), eros (sexual passion), and pragma (relationship). The Bible gives us an overall definition of what love should look like, no matter what type.
            Reading the passage this time around, I didn't fully grasp how many aspects of love there actually were. I then began to realize how often I don't fulfill all of those definitions of love to the people I claim to love. As I list off these definitions, I encourage you to think about each one individually and determine how often you actually execute them. 

• Love is patient.
• Love is kind.
• Love does not envy.
• Love does not boast. 
• Love is not proud.
• Love does not dishonor others.
• Love is not self-seeking.
• Love is not easily angered.
• Love keeps no record of wrongs.
• Love does not delight in evil.
• Love rejoices with the truth.
• Love always protects.
• Love always trusts.
• Love always hopes.
• Love always perseveres.
• Love never fails. 

            Those punched me in the gut. I couldn't help but feel guilt and sadness as I was reminded of how many of these points I choose to ignore. How often am I actually patient with the people I claim to love? How often do I boast with these people? Trust? Be kind? But-I was also faced with the reality that the people that have claimed to love me have not always fulfilled these as well. Some more than others, some less than other people in my life. Maybe some never loved me at all. It's a heart breaking realization I've come to.

            Obviously, none of us are perfect and we all sin. There's honestly no way that we can ALWAYS execute each of these points on a day-to-day basis. But we also can't just focus a few of these points and think that the others don't matter.  Just like the body of Christ, it is not made up of one part but of many, and cannot function properly without all of them. But I can tell you that for me-after studying this- I am going to make it a priority to show the people that I love each of these descriptions. This is love! Love is so much more than just a word. It's action, attitude, passion, feeling, persistence, and aspiration. It's everything this passage portrays. I can definitely say that now, love is not just a casual term for me anymore. It's much more than that. Love is indispensable.