This one passage is perhaps the most quoted Scripture at weddings. It is one we memorize as young children and scribble in Valentine’s Day cards as we grow up. Yet after we say “I do” and sunset our honeymoon days, many of us realize how unattainable it is to live out every day.

Yes, I’m referring to I Corinthians 13, often called the love chapter. Its verses define love in two ways:

By what love is and does: it’s long-suffering, kind, rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

By what love is not and does not: envy, boast, be prideful, be rude, become self-seeking, be easily angered, keep a record of wrongs, delight in evil, or give up.

Have you fallen short of this standard? If you’re raising your hand along with me, I’ve got good news.

The source of love is God—not you or me.

This truth is liberating for those of us who have berated ourselves for falling short of the I Corinthians 13 standard.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:7-8 NKJV).

Did you catch that? God is love. The only way we can love others is to be God’s child and to walk in relationship with Him. Apart from God, love is impossible.

Just in case you missed that idea, the next few verses underscore it. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I John 4:9-11).

Not one of us died for the sins of another person, let alone for our own sins. Only Jesus embodies such sacrificial love. His example becomes our motivation to love and a model for us to follow.

When God’s love becomes our mirror, we can check our reflections against it.

When we think of mirrors today, we think of glass mirrors that reflect our images perfectly (given the right lighting). That wasn’t the case with mirrors in biblical times. Most were made of polished bronze, which provided only a dull reflection for a person to see.

I Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” The city of Corinth was famous for its bronze mirrors, and considering this context, verse twelve takes on more clarity. On this side of heaven, we only partially understand God and His love. We catch glimpses of it and try to wrap our minds around it, but we come up short. We’re also going to fall short of His standard to love others.

But staring into the mirror of God’s love is a worthwhile pursuit. We may reflect His love imperfectly, but the more we study Him and the way He loved, the better we can convey His love to others. Sure, we won’t get loving others right all the time, but we’ll get it right much more than we would if we were striving in our own wisdom.

Even as I sat down to write this article, I recognized a recent failure to love my husband as God would have me to love him. But praise the Lord, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). I’m going to stare hard at God’s loving example, bathe in the truth of His Word, and begin again to reflect His love.

We’re all going to fall short of God’s standard. That’s not the point. The point is Whose love we’re reflecting. We must accept with humility that loving well is not possible in our own strength but through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

Dear God, thank You for personifying love when You came to Earth and died for me. Thank You for coming back to life and resurrecting the chance for me to have a relationship with You, now and in eternity. Please teach me how to reflect Your love more fully to the people You have placed in my life, and please give me grace when I fail. Amen.

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