What Love Does Not Do

“Love does not behave improperly” — 1 Corinthians 13:5.

In the dress of a Hindu woman, her graceful robe is held in place by a single knot. A long strip of cloth is wrapped around her body so that it falls in beautiful folds like a sewn garment. The end is secured with a little knot, and the whole robe depends on that one fastening. If it came undone, the robe would fall.

In the same way, in the spiritual life, our established habits of grace can be compared to garments. The garment of love, which so beautifully adorns a child of God, is also held in place by little fastenings: the “nots.” In English, “knots” and “nots” sound alike.

If you read the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians carefully, you will notice that most of love’s qualities are described through what it does not do. “Love does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own way, is not provoked, and does not devise evil.”

These “nots” are enough to keep our spiritual garment in place. They also explain why so many fail and walk naked or in torn garments, exposing their shame for others to see. Let us take care of those little “nots.”