Spurgeon: Preacher & Poet

One of the commentaries I use as a resource to help me dig deeper when I'm studying or preparing to write, is Charles H. Spurgeon. This time I used Spurgeon's Devotional Bible (published by Baker Books) to get his wise insight on the verse, "Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8).

He wrote, "It is an unwithering flower." Whoa. He's not only a profoundly wise preacher whose words still live though he has gone to his heavenly home; he is a gifted poet. I had to go back to the beginning of the love passage, as 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is commonly referred, to see what he sees in the rest of it. Here it is:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy...

Spurgeon: It is glad of another's good.

It does not boast...

Spurgeon: It never glorifies itself.

It is not proud...

Spurgeon: It hates flattery.

It is not rude....

Spurgeon: Christian love conducts itself properly. Love to others will not allow us to act in a manner unbecoming our position and the decencies of society.

It is not self-seeking, it not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Spurgeon: Is not suspicious and captious.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects...

Spurgeon:  Covers many things with its mantle, and as Old Master Trapp says, "swallows down whole many pills which would be very bitter in her mouth if she were so foolish as to chew them."

Always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Spurgeon: That is to say, all things which are for a neighbor's credit; trying to put a good construction on everything, even where it needs great faith to be able to do so.

Love never fails...

Spurgeon: It is an unwithering flower.

Beautiful, isn't it? Is God's word and Spurgeon's insight perhaps bittersweet to our souls because our culture seems to have fallen so short of this supernatural life of love?

Lord, forgive us and have mercy on US. Help our nation and the entire world to get back to worshiping and adoring YOU above everything else.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

💖 Polly

Writing to shine the light for the glory of God