Monday: What Love Does
Daily Lesson for Monday 10th of August 2026
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is the heart of the chapter. Paul focuses on the features of love—showing what love is and what it is not, or what love does and does not do. He personifies love so that we can have a glimpse of how a person filled with Spirit-driven love behaves. In his portrayal of love, Paul uses a series of verbs. For him, love is more about actions than about feelings or emotions.
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
What, then, does love do?
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Shows patience (makrothymeō). Makrothymeō means to show patience, even amid challenging circumstances. Patience also highlights the ability to be forbearing with one another (Ephesians 4:2).
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Shows kindness (chrēsteuomai). Chrēsteuomai occurs only here in the New Testament, but other words from the same root are common elsewhere. In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament), words from this root occur frequently in the Psalms to refer to God’s kindness associated with His mercy (Psalms 145:9). By saying that love shows kindness, Paul meant that one’s love for others must emulate God’s compassion and mercy toward us.
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Rejoices (synchairō) in the truth. Synchairō denotes the ability to experience joy alongside another person (Luke 1:58; Luke 15:6,9; 1 Corinthians 12:26; Philippians 2:17-18).
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Bears (stegō) all things. Scholars debate whether stegō means “to cover,” namely, to keep something confidential (which also has a sense of protection), or “to endure,” with a sense of resilience. The concept of endurance clearly occurs in 1 Corinthians 9:12, leading most interpreters and Bible translators to take the second option as more likely.
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Believes (pisteuō) all things. Pisteuō comes from the same root as the Greek term for faith (pistis). In the context of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, believing all things means giving one another the benefit of the doubt.
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Hopes (elpizō) all things. In the New Testament, the verb elpizō always refers to the belief or expectation that something good will occur.
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Endures (hypomenō) all things. Likely, there is no difference between the verbs stegō and hypomenō in 1 Corinthians 13:7. They are synonyms, meaning here endurance amid hardship. Paul uses hypomenō at the end of the verse to avoid the repetition of stegō. By repeating the same concept even with a different word, he draws attention to believing and hoping as the focal point. In other words, love endures by believing and hoping.
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Compare 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to Galatians 5:22-23. What ideas in common do you see between the two passages? How can we manifest this kind of love in our own lives? |
Today’s lesson sounds like a new year’s resolution list. And the danger is that by day three we can only remember the first couple of items on the list. The issue for most of us is were get caught up in our busy lives and before we know it, we are acting with self-interest. We are too busy to listen to others because we have an agenda. We don’t have the time to play with our kids. We forget to make that phone call to someone who needs to hear our voice.
It would be helpful to pray for the Holy Spirit to teach us to understand ourselves better. We all have our own personalities and that is not going to change, but with God’s help, we can manage those characteristics. I remember the time I worked with a school headmaster who in his first staff meeting, told us he was a bit of a sorehead early in the morning. If we wanted to discuss something with him, we should leave it until later in the day. One day I had a problem. I was at home doing school stuff- PR photographs – and I did not have a car to bring them to school because it was being serviced. I rang him early in the morning and asked if one of the staff could come and get me and the photographs. He tore shreds off me for getting my car serviced. I took the train to school and approached him later in the day. By then he was willing to listen and when I explained the situation (I had been up most of the night developing the photographs) he apologised for his shortness and then drove me home to collect the photographs. He knew what he was like, but he was generous in his response. He was a good headmaster, and I enjoyed working with him. He also facilitated the purchase of my first programmable calculator,
We are not perfect and my guess is that as we go down the list in today’s lesson there will be some things we will note we are not good at. If we understand ourselves, we can ask the Holy Spirit to teach us strategies for handling our weaknesses.
The flip side of this is that self-sacrificing love does not exploit the weakness of others to get our own way.
Agape love is not simply a feeling but a powerful force which has a transformative power because it originates in God – “God is love.” (1 John 4:8). This kind of love is the one that will transform our families into heaven on earth. This is the love that compelled God to send His only Son to come and die for sinners. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). This love overcomes hatred and hostility. This love sees mercy instead of revenge. When David had an opportunity to kill Saul, he exercised mercy. “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:6). This love sees forgiveness instead of hatred. Joseph’s brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Instead of harbouring sentiments of bitterness and hatred, he chose to forgive. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” (Genesis 50:20). This love is blind to social, religious and political differences. The Good Samaritan exercised a higher form of love to take care of an injured Jewish man. This love treats all people as human beings.
I am truly amazed at what this love can make a person become. It makes an unkind person become kind. It makes an impatient person become patient. It makes a selfish person become generous. It makes a proud person become humble. It makes a resentful person forgiving. It controls a person with a bad temper. This love is dynamic. It transforms enemies into friends through reconciliation.
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation” ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, NLT).
Omwenga – a heartfelt Amen! Thank you for such a clear and concise narrative that exemplifies what God’s Love does for us, in us, and for those who are touched by His transformative Love when coming in contact with us.
“I am truly amazed at what this love can make a person become. It makes an unkind person become kind. It makes an impatient person become patient. It makes a selfish person become generous. It makes a proud person become humble. It makes a resentful person forgiving. It controls a person with a bad temper. This love is dynamic. It transforms enemies into friends through reconciliation”. DITTO!!!
By allowing the HOLY SPIRIT guide our actions to reflect CHRIST. As Christians, our daily conduct is the Bible we open to the world around us.
It was surprising to me to learn that the Greek term agape is not only used to express God’s love (John 3:16, God agape the world) but also man’s love of darkness. In John 3:19, the Greek word for love in “men loved darkness” is a form of the same agape word.
This led me to reflect deeper about what agape means. Agape love is always expressed in action. It is a self-giving love. Agape love is an act of will rather than emotion. Agape love is covenant love. It goes beyond emotion. It goes beyond the contractual kind of love we usually have for one another. The, often unspoken, contract we have of love between people is usually because they meet our needs, desires, and wants. This “if-then love” ends when we feel the other has broken or cannot fulfil the contract. This counterfeit love is dependent on who you are and what you do. It explains why marriages die, why we struggle to love our enemy, or to genuinely care for the stranger and the outcaste.
This is why the agape of the world, or the agape of darkness is so dangerous. Not just because God said so, but because the love of darkness is a covenant we have made with sin. Our agape for the world is always expressed in action. It is a self-giving love, even if we are giving ourselves to something that will ultimately destroy us. Our covenant with sin goes beyond emotion. Paul expresses in Romans 7 the deep inner conflict where we may want to move in one direction, but our covenant with sin leads us in another. Indeed, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”
But Paul gives us hope, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is the same Christ who delivers us who gives us the power to agape one another as we chose daily, sometimes minute by minute, to die to self and live for him.
Jocelyn the love of darkness(evil) is simply perversion of the will, such as pleasure in destruction, like a random shooter, or vilant and distructive riots, or abuse. Not agape. Agape love is selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love. Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13.
I hear you, John. This love of darkness is a perversion and therefore a nonlove. What is your reflection on John’s use (not mine) of the verb form of the Greek root agape (agapao) in both John 3:16 and John 3:19? I would love (no pun intended) to hear your thoughts.
I have to stick with the defination of agape love, selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love. John 3:16. The defination of love of darkness(sin) is: a perversion of the will. John 3:19. Now look at John 3:5, 20, 21. These texts are asking us to step out of the darkness into the light.
John – you state that your definition of ‘love of darkness(sin)’ is: a perversion of the will.”
John 3:21 states: ”But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done IN God.”
Do we sin because we suffer from a ‘perversion of our will’? Is our acceptance of God based on our willpower or the Love of God returned to Him by faith? What has the Spirit of God changed within us? Has He changed our free will? No, He freed us from the shackles of the spirit of this world to become born-again in heart and mind – giving us a new nature – that willingly and wholeheartedly accepts His Light and does what God’s Light reveals within us?
If we remember that agape means self-giving love, it makes sense:
Some people give themselves over to evil.
God gives Himself in service to others.
If we follow His example, we give ourselves to service of God and our neighbors.
Thanks Jocelyn for highlighting. This is indeed deep. I hope someone will also share their reflections on the use of the word agape.
Love is not merely an emotion; it is an ability, an attitude, and, even better, a state of being. Love propels us beyond our selfish selves and invites us into the richness of building one another up, respecting our differences, and standing against intolerance and hatred. In love, we discover a deeper reality that calls us to become more than ourselves. Love opens our hearts to God and connects us to one another. As the film Dan in Real Life puts it, “Love is not a feeling… it’s an ability.” When we love, we invest ourselves; we become vulnerable, and we risk being hurt, yet we also open ourselves to profound joy. The ability to love is therefore the ability to look beyond ourselves and see others through the heart of God. This is why Jesus commanded, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
Christian love is not simply something we feel; it is something we choose and practice. It is patient, kind, selfless, and enduring, because “love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4), and “love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). Jesus’ command to love ultimately led Him to Golgotha, because love brought Him into complete solidarity with a suffering and broken humanity. He could have surrendered to fear in Gethsemane, withdrawn into obscurity after the turmoil in Jerusalem, or abandoned the mission while His followers scattered in search of another Messiah. But love would not allow Him to take that path. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Out of love, Christ chose the path of selflessness, obedience, suffering, and sacrifice.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). On the cross, Christ stretched out His arms, vulnerable, wounded, bleeding, and breathless. In that moment, the depth of divine love was exposed before the world. His arms stretched wide became the ultimate embrace of humanity. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The cross therefore teaches us that genuine love does not merely speak; love acts, love sacrifices, love remains, and love reaches out. In Christ, we see that the fullest expression of love is not found merely in what we feel, but in what we are willing to give for the sake of others. Love carried Jesus to the cross, and from the cross, His love reaches every human heart.
Hi, people have been reading …not judging but doing… chapter in … “Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing”… E G. White. Those with whom Christ dwells will be surrounded by a divine atmosphere. Their white robes of purity will be fragrant with perfume from the garden of the lord. their faces will reflect light from his brightening the path for stumbling and weary feet. It’s a blessing to connect this message with your comments and with biblical truth. Have a spirit-filled week.
Very encouraging quote Reneannea. A quick search reveals chapter 6 ‘Not Judging, But Doing’ based on Matthew 7:12. Page 135, paragraph 1. God bless you Reneanne.
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers and sisters.” — 1 John 3:14
This is a profound test of genuine Christianity. John does not say that we know we have passed from death to life simply because we profess faith, attend church, know Scripture, or defend correct doctrine. He points to love for one another as evidence that Christ’s life is being reproduced in us.
This love is not merely a feeling. It is the agapē described in 1 Corinthians 13—patient, kind, humble, truthful, and unwilling to rejoice in wrongdoing. It reaches beyond those who are easy to love and challenges us to love even when there are differences, disagreements, or offenses.
Our treatment of others therefore becomes a mirror of our spiritual condition. If we claim to have received the love of Christ but harbor contempt, hatred, prejudice, or indifference toward others, we should pause and examine our hearts.
To pass from death to life is to become increasingly like the One who loved us when we were undeserving of love.
The question is not merely, “Do I believe in Christ?” but also, “Is the love of Christ evident in the way I treat others?”
We read about 1Cor. 13:4-7, we talk about it, and we sing about it. Do we really practice it? Lod, please give us wisdom to understand and practice your love Amen!
Love is clean. It transcends personal motives. It flows naturally and desires no attention. Agape love originates with God and intends to bless humanity. As we continue to place our hands in God’s, he will inspire us to love as he loved, selfless and with the interest of others being the core of our loving deeds of love.
The only way to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit is to “walk by the Spirit, then we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”Galatians 5:16. It means letting the Holy Spirit guide our daily choices instead of following selfish or sinful human habits.
The attributes of love can only be realized in us when we are connected to the One who is love. A good diagnostic is to ask yourself “am I these things?” Instead of using the word love, put your name there. “Tim is patient, Tim is kind…” It is both revealing and empowering. The vertical relationship is revealed by our horizontal relationships. Meet me at the cross.
I want to pose a question:
When saying: “What, then, does love do”? differ from saying: “What, then, does God’s Love do”?
Does the focus shift from ‘self’ to ‘God’ when asking the same question but include ‘God’ as the source of this particular love? Can we as Christians express two types of ‘love’?
The nature of the love generated by ‘self’ is to seek its own advantage in everything one does. Not so with God’s Love. It seeks to establish the spiritual essence of life within the believer. Its effect goes beyond the perceived physical advantages when receiving or giving ‘God’s Love’, so blessing the giver and the receiver with more abundant Life.
It may be helpful to define the nuances of the by God’s Spirit inspired Love for better recognition – how His Love expresses itself in the life of man. Though it will become an exercise in futility when engaging in ‘loving God and your fellow man’ as a duty – as an act of obedience to fulfill the demands of the Law.
As I see it, God’s Spirit of Love present in our life needs to be seen as the agent which rescues the sinner from death – changing him from the inside out – causing him to come ALIVE in Christ through God’s LOVE. ‘Alive in Christ’ is the spiritual state of being alive – being filled with the love of and for God and our fellow man. God’s Love cannot be present without the believer having his life in Christ Jesus.
Eph.2:1-8
v.4-6 ”But because of His great Love for us, God, who is rich in Mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by Grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ..”
‘Transgressions’ are all the acts of unredeemed man. Only God’s Love is able to change this by causing us to be ‘born-again’ – filling us with His Love to allow His Love to foster Life.
Love of God to us is clean let’s go to that verse John 3:16for God so loved us it conquer all evil thing that was damaged at Eden it’s shows patience compassion to others cause our God is love n if we don’t have love we are not reflect the image of God so let’s practice that love
Love can be made perfect by faith. Or, is it faith that can be made perfect by love? Love depends on a triad: self, God and neighbor/other. James 2:22 : “faith was made perfect by works” — and works are just love in action.