The 8 K-nots of Love

In I Corinthians 13 we have Paul’s well known list of what love is not.  Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek her own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness…..

            As I ponder these 8 nots of Love, I am reminded that authentic love is not so much what we give to others, but what we are willing to give up for others.  A truly selfless act of love will be demonstrated by what Paul goes on to say after these 8 nots, “to put away childish things” and to begin living by “faith, hope, love, these three…but the greatest is love.” 

            I think Christians today in the west have drifted back into a childhood state as we live for what feels good and what benefits “me.”  There is a vast difference in the Christians in the east, especially the Christian women in China, Pakistan, and India, because they have learned what love is not.  And because of their incredible faith and hope, they are willing to sacrifice even their lives to demonstrate the love of Christ that constrains them.  I love what Paul says in 2^nd Corinthians 5 in regard to authentic love: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of a sound mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ constrains us…that they who live, should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”