Jesus is

“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 its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

What is Jesus like? Well, Jesus is love and love is Jesus. This stands to reason because God is love, and Jesus is God. Love, therefore, isn’t just something Jesus does, as if it were merely part of the way He acts; no, love is the way Jesus is at the core of His being. He is love all the way through and all the way down. 

What does that look like on Monday morning, or on Saturday morning for that matter? As is always the case, love has a beautiful way of showing up under pressure. We do not display love when others are at their best. We show love when they are at their dead-level worst. As our text says, “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous . . . .” Most importantly, love displays its true colors in the crucible.

After our Bible study this morning, Gene Klaan said something that I don’t think I had ever heard before, “Take love out of 1 Corinthians 13 and replace it with Jesus; for love is just like Jesus.”

“Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus is not jealous; Jesus does not brag and Jesus is not arrogant. Jesus does not act unbecomingly. Jesus does not seek His own way. Jesus is not provoked. Jesus does not take into account a wrong suffered. Jesus does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but Jesus rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, Jesus believes all things, Jesus hopes all things, Jesus endures all things. Jesus never fails.”

Those are incredible truths, aren’t they? Work through that list, Christian. Jesus is all those things with you, for you, and towards you. Jesus is patience personified towards you. He bears with your half-heartedness, your willingness to compromise everything for a moment’s pleasure, your thick-headed refusal to learn a lesson taught so often. Despite all of your failure, you deal with a Savior who is not easily provoked. When Jesus looks at you, He never takes account of the wrongs that you have done to Him. Instead, He is kind. Only kind. Always kind.

Jesus, furthermore, is neither rude nor rough in His dealings with you. He does not love to see you fall, so He prays constantly that you will stand strong. And even though your daily dealings with Him add many a burden to His heart and mind, He bears with you. 

Jesus also believes all things, so He never loses sight of His Father’s grace at work in your heart. Even in those moments of craziness when you do what you know is wrong, He sees deep down a heart that wanted what was right, reached for what was right, but failed in a moment of chaotic madness. Often our good desires are perverted in their execution; often our loves are misdirected and disordered, but behind all the failure, Jesus still sees the good you were striving for when you did what was wrong. He sees how much you hate the things you do. He sees how much you lament yet again, the morass you find yourself in, and how much you wish things were better. And yet through it all and despite it all, Jesus remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. After all the shame you have brought Him, He is not ashamed to call you, “My, brother!” Thanks be to God!

Take heart, my friend, for you cannot weary away the love of Jesus. He is love wrapped up in flesh. He will never cease to be who He is and what He is, so His dealings with you will forever be full of grace, mercy, and peace. Calvin put it well in his famous hymn, “I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art”:

Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
no harshness hast thou and no bitterness:
make us to taste the sweet grace found in thee
and ever stay in thy sweet unity.

Our hope is in no other save in thee;
our faith is built upon thy promise free;
O grant to us such stronger hope and sure
that we can boldly conquer and endure.