1 Corinthians 13 is a beautiful outline for genuine love. Bill and Pam Farrel return to Live the Promise to walk through God’s design for sacrificial love and the subtle habits that can prevent it from flourishing.
Love: to act like Jesus, who went the distance dying on a cross. It looks at what the other person needs first instead of asking “What do I need instead?”
Bill and Pam break down the three kinds of love we see in Scripture.
Eros: physical, romantic love.
Phileo: brotherly love.
Agape: the kind of sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated by dying for us. Bill explains.
“In my heart I’m going to consider you as every bit as important as me. So I’m going to do and say the things that are in your best interest. That kind of love makes other people recognize the value they have on this earth.”
Pam agrees.
“Love is sticky and not time-efficient. Love causes you to set aside your agenda and time.”
Love is
• Patient. Give others in your household as much grace as you give yourself.
• Kind. Kindness is “more than just being nice.” Bill says this is a habit of creating an environment where another person can grow and flourish.
• Not jealous. Bill unpacks this one. When a man is threatened by his wife’s gifts, he can turn that jealousy outward and becomes critical instead of encouraging of what God has given her.
• Not boastful or proud. Pam says we need to keep proper order in the home to avoid pride.
“It’s very easy for us to fall off into a wife-centered home, a husband-centered home, or a kid-centered home. Jesus wants our home to revolve around Him. If we actually live out 1 Corinthians 13, our love relationships are going to work. All of our relationships are going to work!”
• Not a record-keeper of wrongdoing.
Bill and Pam boil it down. “Do we want to become an ugly person in response to what other people are doing? There is no downside to being a loving person.”
Key Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:22; Nehemiah 2:4-5
Featured Songs: Shoulders by For King & Country; The Maker by Chris August; Your Love is Mine by I Am They
