1st Corinthians 13:5

1^st Corinthians 13:5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

The list continues…God does not behave rudely, does not seek (plot or plan) his own, is not provoked, God thinks no evil. Agape is God’s perfect unconditional love that is given though no one deserves it, it is also a love that he calls us to have as well, but one that can’t be had apart from a right relationship with him. You can’t develop this kind of love without God; you can work at it and do some of it sometimes, but the only way to truly become the type of person who loves others this way is to build an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Like any other relationship it will take work to build and maintain an intimate relationship, but as Christians this is the very thing we are called to do, John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. How can we keep his commands unless we know what they are, and how can we know what they are unless we continue in prayer and reading and studying of his word the Bible? However this is not a list for us to aspire to by our own strength; if I were it would give us great potential to become legalistic and prideful, which is not the goal. This passage is meant to convict us to love, like a plumbline, it’s not a command but an ideal.

Application-I will continue to learn to discipline myself to pray, read my bible and study God’s word every day. I will work on learning how to do each of these better, not for the sake of becoming legalistic but for the sake growing a more intimate relationship with my Lord and Savior.