1 Corinthians 13:4-8a English Standard Version

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends.

The bible does not use the specific term law of love but does describe the attributes of agape love. That is God’s perfect love and while it should be noted that this list is not a law it does define how that love acts.

Everything in nature has constraints. Water is subject to temperature, gravity, air pressure, salinity, and solubility. It has a law of constraints which identifies how it will act with predictable results. That is a law unto itself.

If we do not measure up to the standards of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13, it does not mean His love is absent in us. It only means we have not obeyed the law of love. We can love in many different way. The Greek has multiple definitions for love and each has their own characteristics. None of them reach the standard of performance which is only defined as agape.

One of the characteristic of agape love not listed above is the ability to change the heart in which it resides. Often the resistance to obeying the law of love is mental. If we do not think we are worthy we will not act like we are worthy. That is allowing the psychological to overrule the heart.

Why is it we get irritated with the actions of others? Could it be that we have judged them as being unworthy of the love that abides in us? Jesus loved us while we were unworthy and called us into His glorious presence.

Why can’t we do the same?

1 Corinthians 2:9 English Standard Version (ESV) But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Why doesn’t God show us what He has prepared for us? Some have received knowledge as Paul reports in 2 Corinthians 12; “and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”

Paul answers his plight simply with this line: “I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me ….. to keep me from becoming conceited.” That is Paul’s answer to his plight but we are not Paul. Our answers to why not could be different.

This is one of those hidden mysteries which we can only answer for ourselves. Paul’s answer will not fit my plight even if that answer is satisfactory to everyone else.

Proverbs 16:2 English Standard Version (ESV) All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

It doesn’t matter what we think of ourselves, God knows us better than we know ourselves. It grieved Peter in his heart to have the Lord ask him over and over again “Do you love me?” It didn’t matter what the Lord was asking Peter to do, it was challenging Peter’s love that troubled Peter.

We say we love the Lord and the expressions of our love are in gratitude for the things God has already done for us. If we knew all that God has prepared for us it might change our motivations. It is so easy to lie to ourselves but we cannot lie to the all-knowing God.

Where in the great commandment does it say to love God for all that He will give you?

My answer to why not is to keep the motivations of my heart pure.