Love Does Not Boast

If I speak in the tongues Or languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If 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. ³If 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.⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.⁸Love 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. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹When 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. ¹²For 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.¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13, NIV

Dear Christian,

Unfortunately, I’m sure we all know and understand the term ‘locker room talk’. It’s when (stereotypically) boys stand around in the locker room and talk about their latest sexual conquest. I’ve never (knowingly) been a part of one of those conversations, but from what I gather, the tales can rival that of a fisherman’s. And there is not much respect for the partners involved.

Godly love is not self exalting love.  It isn’t putting yourself in a position that puts you above others. For a boastful person, it is difficult to serve another, and that’s what Godly love is. 

How can you reign in your pride so that you can more humbly love those around you?

Love,
Ashley