Love does…is not self-seeking

1 Corinthians 13:5 – “Love… is not self-seeking.”

There is a line in Paul’s hymn to love that whispers its challenge more than shouts it.
It does not strike like thunder; it stirs the soul towards love itself.

Love is not self-seeking.

Not clinging, not manoeuvring, not angling for advantage.

Not the desperate hunger to be seen, served, satisfied.

How quiet this love is.

How unnatural.

It waits without clutching.

It gives without calculating.

It lets go when it could hold on.

We live in a world built on self.

Self-expression, self-assertion, self-protection, self-worth.

Even our acts of service, if we are honest, are sometimes laced with the hope to be noticed and praised.

But Paul says agape; this strange, divine love, does not seek its own way.

It is a reversal, a small dying, and a sacred rising.

Because in not seeking its own, love discovers something freer, deeper, more enduring than the self.

It discovers and uncovers communion.

It joins in the flow of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, each pouring into the other, none grasping for dominance, all giving, receiving, abiding.

This kind of love is not loud; it does not brand itself or cry for credit.

This love kneels.

This love waits.

This love comes with open hands.

 And so, we must see it in ourselves, in those rare and sacred moments when we stop trying to be only those who help, and become those who love.

 So, ask yourself, where am I still seeking my own self?

What part of me still fears being unseen, unneeded, uncelebrated?

And can I, in this moment, trust that Love Himself sees and holds me?

 To love without seeking self is not to disappear.

It is to finally appear, in in God’s embrace.

So, be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity. Do not allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves. Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. In this we are transformed, we are changed becoming instruments of God’s love to one another.[1]

[1] Philippians 2:3-4 The Passion Translation.

 Jim Varsos