1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Reading this passage at a wedding may seem like the perfect choice, mostly because Paul’s use of the word “love” seems to outline the best and brightest of what we’d all like to believe about love between partners in marriage. But these verses from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth are not about romantic love.
On the day I married Nancy, I did not need to be reminded to be patient and kind to her. Rather, I need this reminder on perfectly ordinary days—when I am trying to love difficult people in my community. I need to be reminded that love is not irritable or resentful when I am at work. I need to remember that love endures when I encounter people on the street asking for change, or when I read about violence in the paper.
My wife and my friends are easy to love. The people I have trouble showing kindness and patience toward are those I see only dimly, the enemy and the stranger.
