God's Recipe For Superb Life◆◆Daily devotional
Tuesday 13th, December, 2016.
Pastor Neyo
Love Vaunts Not Itself, Is Not Puffed Up, and Does Not Behave Itself Unseemly

Charity [agape love] suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly…. — 1 Corinthians 13:4,5

When Paul wrote First Corinthians 13:1, he alluded to “super-spiritual” people in Corinth who boasted of great spirituality but who exhibited very little love in their lives. He said they were like a “sounding brass” and a “tinkling cymbal.”

Paul goes on to makes his fourth point on the characteristics of agape by saying that love “…vaunteth not itself…” The word “vaunteth” has lost its meaning in today’s vernacular, but in Greek it is very powerful! This word comes from the Greek word perpereuomai, which means a lot of self-talk. In other words, it describes a person who endlessly promotes himself and exaggerates his own virtues. His self-promotion is so outrageous that he is usually prone to exaggeration that borders on lying. Love doesn’t go around talking about itself all the time, constantly exaggerating and embellishing the facts to make it look more important in the sight of others. Love doesn't exalt itself above others.

Agape love is so strong, so sure, and so confident that it doesn’t need to speak of itself or its accomplishments, even if those accomplishments are greater than anyone else’s. Real agape love would never flaunt itself in this way; instead, agape love wants to focus on the accomplishments of others in order to build them up and make them feel more valuable and secure. Remember, agape isn’t a self-focused love — it is focused on giving of itself in order to meet other people’s needs.

Paul gives the fifth characteristic of agape love when he tells us that love “…is not puffed up.” These words are based on the Greek word phusio, which means to be proud, to be swollen, or to be inflated. Thus, this word vividly paints the picture of a person who is filled with pride.

Paul warns that agape is never phusio. This means agape love is never deceived into thinking too highly of itself, nor does it arrogantly claim that it is better than others. Making this word even more significant is the fact that the word phusio also carries the notion of a person who has an air of superiority and  a person who is snooty or snobbish in his dealings with other people.

When you consider the Greek meaning of the words “puffed up,” it becomes evident that Paul was letting us know:

“…Love does not behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish, or clannish manner.”

After Paul tells us that love is not puffed up, he proceeds to give us his sixth point. He writes that love “doth not behave itself unseemly….”

The Greek word for “unseemly” is aschemoneo, an old word that means to act in an unbecoming manner. It suggests a person who is tactless or thoughtless. It also expresses the notion of a person who is careless and inconsiderate of others. Both his actions and words tend to be rude and discourteous, and he exhibits bad manners in the way he deals with people. His language is harsh and brutal, revealing that this person is uncaring, insensitive, and unkind. In short, we would say that this is a person who “acts ugly.”

“Love is not rude and discourteous — it is not careless or thoughtless, nor does it carry on in a fashion that would be considered insensitive to others.…”

When all these Greek words and phrases are translated together, an expanded interpretive translation could be as follows:

“…Love doesn’t go around talking about itself all the time, constantly exaggerating and embellishing the facts to make it look more important in the sight of others; love does not behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish, or clannish manner; love is not rude and discourteous — it is not careless or thoughtless, nor does it carry on in a fashion that would be considered insensitive to others…."  Let God's love flows through you today, God bless you!

|| Prayer for Today||
Lord, I ask You to help me live my life in a way that glorifies You. You are my Lord, and I am Your servant and child. I don’t want to do anything with my life that brings disrespect or dishonor to Your precious name! Help me to not exaggerate or embellish the truth. I ask You to correct me when I am lured into snobbery or pride and to lovingly rebuke me when I “act ugly” toward others. I want to be like You, Jesus, and I’m not going to stop pressing ahead until I demonstrate Your life and Your nature in my life. Thank you precious Father. Hallelujah to your Name, Amen!

||Daily Faith Proclamation||
I confess and declare today, that I am never going to stop until I have attained the high level of love Jesus wants me to have in my life! I don’t go around talking about myself all the time, constantly exaggerating and embellishing the facts. I don’t behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish, or clannish manner. I’m not rude and discourteous. I’m not careless or thoughtless. As I spend time with Jesus, I am being changed into His image — and I demonstrate His life and His nature to other people in the Name of the Lord Jesus!

||Thoughts For Today||
◆Love is not rude and discourteous — it is not careless or thoughtless, nor does it carry on in a fashion that would be considered insensitive to others
◆Love does not behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish, or clannish manner.

■■■Further Study■■■
Romans 5:5; 1John 3:18; Romans 12:9.

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