Love is...

The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is agape love—a sacrificial, selfless love. It's the kind of love that compelled Jesus to go to the cross. According to the Bible, the opposite of love isn't hate—it’s selfishness.

Love says, “It’s not about me.”

Selfishness says, “It’s all about me.”

Jesus remained on the cross because He chose to. He didn’t just endure every ounce of physical pain—He also bore the full weight of spiritual pain by drinking the cup of God’s wrath toward sin. And He still stayed. He still chose us. Because love is greater. Love never ends.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4, we’re given both a description and an application of what love truly is—not what you think it is or feel like it is, but what real, agape love actually looks like.

Are you always patient and kind?
Do you ever envy or boast?
Are you ever arrogant or rude?
Do you keep a record of wrongs or hold grudges?

You get the picture. If you’re honest with your answers, you wouldn’t just fail the love test—you’d go down in flames.

Let’s call it what it is: Men, we have a problem—and the problem is us. You can’t willpower your way into living out agape love. But you can connect to the source—The One who is love—and draw from Him.

Think about it this way: if you go to church every week, memorize Bible verses and sing every lyric to every worship song—but you don’t know love—then you don’t know God. As 1John 4:8 tells us, “God is love.” This means He exists in a perfect love relationship with Himself—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and He is without sin.

Out of the overflow of His love for Himself, God created mankind. That's why humans are the only part of creation with the ability to love: we alone were made in His image and likeness. We can love because He first loved us.

This means that if you have placed your trust in Jesus, He has taken your record of wrongs and nailed it to the cross. If you want to love others as Christ loved, you must first experience His love for yourself.

What do I do now?

Every day, kneel before King Jesus and ask Him to show you how to lay down your life for those you love.