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, but that is part of the trouble. Read aloud at a wedding in a warm voice, it goes past like music. Paul did not write it for a wedding. He wrote it to a church in trouble.
Take the words one at a time. "Charity suffereth long" means love is patient, and the word is usually about patience with people more than with circumstances. Paul is writing to a church that had split into groups over which preacher they liked best. "And is kind" asks for more than doing no harm, which is the version most of us settle for. It means actively doing good to someone during the same stretch of time you are being patient with them. "Charity envieth not" was written to a church that was ranking one another's spiritual gifts. "Vaunteth not itself" means love does not show off; it describes the person who cannot let a room settle without mentioning himself. "Is not puffed up" uses a word Paul has already aimed at the Corinthians themselves: "ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned." And "Doth not behave itself unseemly" means love does not act shamefully. Paul wrote that to people who had brought shame on the Lord's Supper, where some ate and drank their fill while the poorer members went hungry.
Now count the negatives. Most of the list in these two verses tells you what love does not do. That is because Paul is describing one church's exact behaviour by writing down its exact opposite, one item at a time, without naming anybody.
So think of the person whose voice makes your shoulders tighten. That person is not an enemy, just someone who wears on you. Before this week is over, do one good thing for them that earns you nothing and that they will never trace back to you. Cover a task for them. Send them the information before they have to ask. Say something true and good about them in a room they are not in. God has been this patient and this kind with you, and He is the One who grows the same love in you.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 312 is Born for Adversity (Proverbs 17:17).