This piece is part of a work, Choose Love, that I hope to make into a second volume, following my book Choose!. Who knows if it will ever get finished. But perhaps you'll be uplifted by this installment.
Some have considered 1 Corinthians 13 as a parenthesis in the discussion about the use of gifts. In truth, it is the center and peak of the whole discussion, with the discussion in chapter 12 on gifts and chapter 14 on edification as the slopes of the peak. It all comes down to love. Or rather, it is up to love at the peak where we must climb.
Not everyone has the same gift. But every single saint must have the same motivation of love. Here, Paul personifies love. Some think he has the Lord Jesus Christ in mind. If so, he will move quickly from Jesus as love to the disciple as love. But perhaps he seeks to pass on the idea that wherever love is present, this is how it will act.