Love is an Action
( 1 Cor. 13:4-8 )

Love is patient

Love is kind:

Love is not jealous:

Love does not boast:

Love is not proud:

Love does not act in an ugly way:

Love is not self-seeking:

Love is not easily irritated:

Love does not keep records of wrongs:

Love is not happy about injustice, but happily stands on the side of truth:

Love covers all things:

Love believes all things:

Love hopes all things:

Love endures all things:

The essentials of love in verses 4-8 all boil down to this: love means putting others first.
Every positive quality examined can only be destroyed by self seeking.
Each can be enhanced by giving one's self more and more to others.
The route to love, therefore, is essentially the route to discipleship,
to deny (crucify or put to death) the desires of self for Christ's sake
and then to follow Him by losing one's life for His sake and the gospel's.
Losing life this way, one indeed finds it.