Note 13 at 1 Cor. 13:5: In other words, God's kind of love always behaves itself. God's type of love will never drive a person to behave improperly. Anyone who claims to be motivated by God's love and yet is acting contrary to God's Word is lying. God's Word and His love agree.

The world operates in an emotional love that overwhelms and often drives them to do acts that they don't want to do. Hollywood has convinced many people that love forces some people to commit adultery. They don't want to do it but they "fall in love." They can't control themselves.

But God's kind of love is not that way. God's type of love involves emotions many times, but it is not an emotion. It is an act of the will. We can choose to love even when we don't feel like it (see note 2 at v. 1, p. 937) and we can always conduct ourselves in a godly manner, even when we do feel God's kind of love.

Paul told Titus to have the older women in the church at Crete teach the younger women to love their husbands and their children (Ti. 2:4). What a radical concept. Most people believe that you fall in love and out of love, but you can't choose to love; it's either there or it's not. But God's kind of love is a choice.

Jesus didn't feel some emotional sensation when He chose to die for us, but that was the greatest demonstration of God's kind of love that the world has ever seen. He made a choice in spite of His emotions (see note 5 at Jn. 12:27, p. 417). Because He was consumed with God's love, He acted properly, even when His emotions didn't agree.

Note 14 at 1 Cor. 13:5: This is another reference to the fact that God's kind of love is not self-serving or self-seeking. Agape love (see note 3 at Rom. 12:10, p. 830) will cause a person to lay down his life for another (Jn. 15:13) because he has literally forgotten himself. Many times when heros are asked why they put themselves in jeopardy to save someone else, they reply that they didn't even think about themselves. All they thought of was the danger to the other person. That's God's kind of love.

Therefore, God's kind of love is the antidote to selfishness and pride. We cannot conquer self by focusing on self. The only way to win over self is to fall in love with God more than with ourself. It is in discovering God's love that we lose self love.

Note 15 at 1 Cor. 13:5: Anyone who has a "short fuse" is not operating in God's kind of love. When we are walking in God's kind of love, we are easy to get along with. God's kind of love does not carry "a chip on it's shoulder."

Note 16 at 1 Cor. 13:5: God's kind of love is positive. It focuses on the good things in others and in situations. God's kind of love is "wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil" (Rom. 16:19). God's kind of love thinks on "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. . ." If there is virtue and praise in something, that is what God's kind of love thinks on (Phil. 4:8).