Love is Not Puffed Up

1 Corinthians 13:4,

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

Love is not puffed up. "Puffed up" means arrogance. Therefore, love does not arrogantly believe it is capable of all nor does it say it is capable of all. It does not believe that it can do just as well or better than others. An arrogant man believes they are a gift to humanity because, in their mind, they succeed in all.

As humans we know we are incapable of doing everything perfectly, so this sin is not as much as a temptation for us as it would be for Jesus. Jesus was obviously capable of all things (we have already seen a few of the incredible things He has done). However, Jesus was not puffed up. In Luke 10:1-12 we see Jesus send out seventy disciples to preach, teach, and heal. In verse 17 the disciples return with joy and excitedly tell Christ about how they were able to cast out demons. Christ could cast out demons too, and He was the reason that they could cast out demons. However, He does not dampen their joy or tell them to calm down. If He were not love He would have at the very least thought, “Yeah? Big deal” or told them about the things he did to try and one up them, but He didn’t. He responded by telling them they are capable of even more. Surely the disciples would have gotten even more excited when they heard that!

I think if we are honest, we will admit that we are naturally puffed up. It is natural for us to want to be the best. For men, we want to be the strongest, toughest, most athletic. For women, perhaps they want to be the prettiest or smartest. Humility is difficult and unnatural.

When someone does something that comes naturally to me and they are excited about it my sin nature wants to knock that person’s joy down. Not necessarily because I want them to feel bad, but because I want them to know that I am better than them at that thing. Of course, I would never outright say that because even society looks down on that (for the most part), but by making myself look better in some way, I am pushing them down to lift myself up. I am puffed up with pride over the abilities that God gave me (1 Corinthians 4:7).

In other cases, people will do things that I am not capable of or not as good at, and I will try and convince myself that it is not a big deal or that I could probably do it just as good if not better. This may not happen with things I don’t care whether I am good at or not, but it does with those things I do care about. For example, if someone is ridiculously good at sowing, I probably won’t struggle with puffing myself up thinking that I can sow even better. But if someone is a very good baseball player, I will likely try and convince myself that if I practiced as much or was as tall as him, I would be even better. I don’t give them the credit for their abilities and skill; I try to convince myself that I am better than them. This is arrogance. This is being puffed up with pride. This is not love.

There are several examples in the Bible of arrogant people too. Nebuchadnezzar arrogantly claimed that it was he who built Babylon into what it was (Daniel 4:30). He was arrogant and prideful enough to claim that he, without the help of God, was capable of such power and beauty. He did not even claim that he and his nation had accomplished such things, but only himself. God humbled him by causing him to live like a beast of the field for seven years (Daniel 4:33).

Sennacherib arrogantly claimed that his nation would destroy Israel and their God just like all the other nations and their gods (2 Kings 18). In the next chapter we see how God slayed 185,000 in one night. God hates arrogance and when we are arrogant, we claim that we can accomplish the things we do without the help of God. Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib may have been more blatant about their arrogance, but when we are arrogant, we make the same claim. We are subtly claiming in our hearts that we are the best while God is the one who keeps us walking, talking, and breathing. How foolish we are to have even an ounce of arrogance, and yet we do! We must remember that it is God who makes us differ from one another, not us. Instead of being puffed up with pride, love others by being humble. Don’t focus on yourself or try and one up those around you, but humbly rejoice with those who are rejoicing.  

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