I Corinthians 13

V.4-6, Characteristics of Love

When Shawnna and I redid our bedroom a few years ago we decided to make a custom head board for our king size bed. Shawnna had a design in mind and all I had to do was get wood together in a way that she could create a master piece. She black washed the pine boards I formed into a head board and after it had dried, she began to write on the wood with white lettering. What did she write? She wrote the characteristics of love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: love is patient, love is kind, love doesn’t envy, love doesn’t boast, love isn’t proud, love doesn’t dishonor others, love isn’t self-seeking, love isn’t easily angered, love keeps no record of wrong, love doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices in truth, love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes, love always perseveres.

Shawnna made for us a daily reminder of how we should be treating each other and how God treats us. Every time we walk in our bed room, we see these words and know that God is holding us accountable for living them out in our marriage, our family, and this world. In John chapter 3, Jesus narrowed the entire law of God down to two simple commands; love God and love others. Our very existence comes down to our ability to love God and love others in deed and in truth. It is easy to say the words, I love you. But it is not always easy to live out those words because it embodies everything that Paul spoke of in these 4 verses of scripture. Love requires action and not only words, you must show someone you love them and not just tell them.