5does not seek its own, [simple_tooltip content=’1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’](1 Corinthians 13:1-13)[/simple_tooltip]
Satan has tried to counterfeit every good thing God has given us. He has succeeded in selling the world a corrupted, inferior type of love. Hollywood has been a big asset to the devil in this battle. Movies portray an emotional, sensual lust as “love,” but it has no basis in reality. It causes people to long for some utopia where every sense is fully satisfied at all times, but human love can never fully satisfy anyone’s deep need to be unconditionally loved. This is God’s kind of love.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the true God kind of love is that it’s not selfish or self-serving. True love isn’t getting what you desire; it is selfless and giving. Just look at Jesus, the greatest example of God’s kind of love that the world has ever seen. The world will tell you that living selflessly is joyless and miserable, but Jesus was full of joy and never miserable. He demonstrated the secret to life is selfless love.
Jesus didn’t come to this earth to satisfy Himself. Ultimately, He did receive great satisfaction by redeeming mankind back to God, but He became a human being for His Father and for us, not for Himself. He left all the splendor of glory and came to dwell in the most humble surroundings. He left the adoration of all creation to live for thirty years in relative anonymity.
Although some praised Jesus during His ministry, He endured the scorn and ridicule of the religious establishment. Then He suffered the ultimate rejection of crucifixion and took all the shame that went with being a condemned criminal. He did all of this because “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
Test your love toward others today by asking yourself this simple question, “Am I saying or doing this for me or for someone else?” Focus on expressing love to others, and see how differently your day goes.