Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
In your opinion, what is the best way to develop the ability to love others?
Gracious Father, You are love! You demonstrated Your great love by sending Your Son to be born in a meager manger. It was love that sent Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. It is by Your grace that I am free to love You and love others, not as a way of trying to be good enough to win Your favor, but out of an overflowing gratitude for Your sacrificial love. Your love is equal to sacrifice. Your love gives. Self-love takes. True love is always demonstrated by action but begins with attitude. It is not what I do that shows love but how I do it. Utilizing spiritual gifts to do good are useless, even destructive when not applied from the standpoint of love. Allow me to be patient and kind and genuinely commit myself to seek good for the good of others. Do not allow me to get irritable or provoked when other people get in my way. The other people are the point, not the obstacle. Keep my attitude pure and never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Instead, help me to always be supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Let my love rejoice in the truth, but not in evil. To know You is to experience Your Love. Help me to spend more time with You and develop a deeper relationship with You. Allow Your love to glow through me to illuminate the darkness in the world with faith, hope, and especially love. Transform my attitude and actions to be more like You by setting myself aside for the good of others. Amen