Today an empire's death sentence becomes a holiday, and the New Testament's most famous chapter explains the force underneath every real rescue: love that is patient, kind, and never fails.
You have heard 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings. Today, hear it where Paul aimed it, at a gifted church that had everything except the point.
Purim celebrates a reversal nobody could have engineered, and 1 Corinthians 13 describes the only force that outlasts every gift, every empire, and every grave. Put them together and you get the Bible's deep pattern: what saves is never spectacle. It is covenant love that refuses to quit.
Notice what love does in Esther's finale: gifts to the poor written into the holiday itself. Rescued people give. So audit today's chapter against your own week, patient, kind, keeping no record. Where the description strains, that is not condemnation. That is the growth edge love is inviting you to.
[{"t":"How to Be a Godly Man","u":"/messages/how-to-be-a-godly-man","i":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68ae1c452c9ac726c7a745ef/6a83239037e04e3691b219f9_It%27s%20Complicated%20Youtube%20Thumbnail%202%20small.jpg","sp":"Brad Straarup","m":39,"r":[{"c":"1CO.13","a":4,"b":7},{"c":"1CO.13","a":11,"b":11}]},{"t":"The Gifts of the Holy Spirit","u":"/messages/the-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit","i":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68ae1c452c9ac726c7a745ef/6a66af2f07113f2610e91967_07.26.jpg","sp":"Brad Straarup","m":41,"r":[{"c":"1CO.12","a":28,"b":28}]},{"t":"Gentleness by the Spirit","u":"/messages/gentleness-by-the-spirit","i":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68ae1c452c9ac726c7a745ef/692d39197a49f08f5bd7feb6_Life%20in%20the%20Spirit%20-%20YT%20Thumbnail%20-%20Gentleness.avif","sp":"Brad Straarup","m":39,"r":[{"c":"1CO.13","a":2,"b":2}]},{"t":"Patience by the Spirit","u":"/messages/patience-by-the-spirit","i":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68ae1c452c9ac726c7a745ef/6908392fdf93c9f2237bfca5_Patience%20by%20the%20Spirit%20-%20YT%20Thumbnail.avif","sp":"Brad Straarup","m":40,"r":[{"c":"1CO.13","a":4,"b":4}]},{"t":"Love by the Spirit","u":"/messages/love-by-the-spirit","i":"https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68ae1c452c9ac726c7a745ef/68ffb80af339b3a5a6bcf0e1_Love%20by%20the%20Spirit%20-%20YT%20Thumbnail.avif","sp":"Brad Straarup","m":38,"r":[{"c":"1CO.13","a":4,"b":8},{"c":"1CO.13","a":13,"b":13}]}]
