CATAPHATIC — that which love is

  • kind
    (does acts of kindness to glorify God and meet the needs of others)
  • patient
    (does wait for the right timing to act, to glorify God and meet the needs of others)
  • rejoices with the truth
    (does look for the good, true, and the beautiful to glorify God and meet the needs of others)
  • bears (covers) all things
    (does actively overlook and forget wrongs of others to glorify God and meet the needs of others)
  • believes all things
    (does trust God presently to provide for His will to be done in others' lives and our lives to glorify God)
  • hopes all things
    (does trust God for the future to provide for His will in others' lives and our lives to glorify God)
  • endures (stays/abides) all things
    (does persevere through all trials/disappointments so that His will in others' lives and our lives will be done to the glory of God)
  • never ends (never falls/fails)
    (does dedicate themselves to never give up on loving God and others)

APOPHATIC — that which love is not

  • not rude
    (not without a plan and purpose—using God’s plan and gentleness instead of his own)
  • not envious
    (doesn’t focus on self—but Christ and others)
  • not boastful
    (doesn’t take self credit—but gives credit to Christ and others)
  • not rejoicing at wrongdoing
    (doesn’t look for or celebrate evil—a deprivation of God—but for that which is good, true, and beautiful, which is the work of Christ and other people motivated by Christ’s designs)
  • not arrogant
    (not prideful—but dependent on God and others)
  • not insisting on its own way
    (doesn’t find satisfaction in self—but in Christ and others)
  • not angry
    (through self-control, doesn’t look to punish or hurt when offended but for Christ and others to get revenge and carry out justice)
  • not keeping a record of wrongs
    (doesn’t place people on a scale of judgment but treats them with mercy/grace—while trusting Christ and others for ultimate justice)