Daily Manna · Day 312 · November 8
The Character of Love
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly.”
People say this passage is beautiful, and it is, and that is the trouble. Read at a wedding in a good voice it goes past like music. It was not written for a wedding.
Charity suffereth long. The word is about being long-tempered with people rather than with circumstances, and Paul is writing to a church that had split into factions over which preacher they preferred. And is kind: not merely refraining from harm, which is the version most of us settle for, but actively doing good in the same stretch of time in which the patience is being spent. Envieth not, in a congregation ranking each other's spiritual gifts. Vaunteth not itself is a word for playing the braggart, the person who cannot let a room settle without a mention of himself. Is not puffed up, which is Paul's favourite word for the Corinthians in particular; he uses it about them five times. Doth not behave itself unseemly, written to people who had made the Lord's table shameful by starting without the poor members who arrived late from work.
Count the negatives. Most of the list is things love does not do. That is not poetry. That is a man describing a specific church's specific behaviour by writing down its exact opposite, one item at a time, and refusing to name anybody.
So take the person whose voice tightens your shoulders. Not an enemy; just that one. Before the week is out do one good thing for them that earns you nothing and that they will never trace back to you. Cover the task. Send the information before they have to ask. Say the true good thing about them in a room they are not standing in.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 312 is Born for Adversity (Proverbs 17:17).