Love Does Not Parade Itself

1 Corinthians 13:4

 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself…” 

Continuing on with our series on 1 Corinthians 13, we next look at the 4^th statement regarding love: Love does not parade itself. Love doesn’t say “look at me”. Love doesn’t do certain deeds to try and look good in front of others, even if those deeds are good deeds. Love does not seek the praise of themselves but the praise of God. Instead of focusing on oneself love focuses on others. They focus on the good deeds of others and praise or complement them for it.

Nobody had more of a right, and therefore greater temptation, to parade oneself then Jesus Christ. He turned water into wine, He healed the sick, He cast out demons, and He was the only One Who was able to die for the sins of the world. There are several passages where Jesus displayed His love by not parading Himself when He easily could have (if He was able to sin). The first one we will look at is in Mark 2:1-12.

Here Jesus forgives a paralytic man (2:5). After hearing this, the scribes that were there murmur in their hearts saying, “who does he think he is?” Jesus then goes on to tell the paralytic to stand up and walk. Obviously this entire incident is amazing, but one of the probably lesser known amazing things about this passage is the love that Jesus displays by not parading Himself. He did not do this deed to be praised or glorified, He did it because of His love for God and not for Himself. That is kind of confusing since He is God, but throughout the ministry of Jesus on earth we see that His focus was on doing the will of God. He was sent by God to accomplish a purpose, to do the will of the Father Who sent Him (John 5:30). In verse 12 we see He accomplished this. The people did not praise Him, but instead praised and glorified God. Jesus did not seek praise for Himself. If He did, wouldn’t He have been praised and glorified? Why would they be praising and glorifying God?

Our entire purpose is for God to be glorified. He is to increase in us whilst our flesh decreases (John 3:30; see article More of Him; Less of Me for a deeper understanding of what this means). God already was fully increased in Jesus’ life. The command for us to glorify God is one that Jesus Himself follows, even though He is fully God! Jesus never asks us to do something that He Himself is unwilling to do. He leads by example, and we have that opportunity to look back and emulate Him, our ultimate example.

When God is increased in our lives He gets the praise and glory, and we go unnoticed. Perhaps that sounds unfair at first glance but remember, the only thing good in you Is from God. Our deeds are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). (I also want to note that our true joy comes from glorifying God, but I don’t want to venture to far down that rabbit hole). That is what happens here. Jesus does the work through the power of God and God gets the glory. The point is that Jesus was not parading Himself; He was not seeking to be praised but was seeking the praise and glory of God.

Another example is found in Mark 5:25-34 where we learn about the woman who had a blood issue. In this passage the woman touches Jesus’ clothes and is instantly healed. When Jesus turns to ask who it was who touched Him (though he already knew) the woman comes forward and admits it was her. The way Jesus responds to her shows that He was not parading Himself. He replies, “…your faith has made you well…” He did not lie, it was her faith, but it was also His power. He had the healing ability; He was so powerful that just by touching His garment she was made well. Yet He does not mention His power which again shows us that He had a love that did not parade itself; He focused on the woman and her faith. He could have made mention of His power, but He did not, again, because of His love, a love that did not parade itself.

It is my nature to seek praise. Self-praise is an issue that is a daily battle. It is a form of pride that is more outward, one that says, “Look at me. Look at what I can do. Look at what I have done.” The natural man loves himself and seeks to hear praise and complements. When those words of praise are not heard often he makes people know about himself and his deeds that he believes are praiseworthy. But in Proverbs 25:6-7 we see that it is better to be humble and be honored by other men, then to honor yourself and be embarrassed. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Parading oneself is sin, whether in words or in your heart. One who truly loves the way he is commanded to will not parade oneself, but will seek the glory of God.

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