Love as Charity (1 Corinthians 13)

Another poem by British guest Michael Uriel who looks set to be a reoccurring contributor:

I used to think love was where it’s at,
And wonder why it stayed at just that.

Love at a distance no touching the misfit,
But with Jesus’ example that just didn’t sit.

Then I was told a true piece of gold,
The Bible’d said something else in translations of old.

One of the meanings of ‘love’ was also ‘charity’,
I thought more and this made sense to me.

Charity demands action and care for the poor,
It’s greater than a feeling of that be sure.

So much more than simple empathy,
An activity really charity should be.

A hug and a hand for the homeless,
A loaf of bread for the breadless.

A cloak for the cloakless,
For charity can do no less.

For not simple love but deeper charity,
Is now at the core of what drives me.

Michael Uriel: I wrote this piece in an attempt to understand a conversation with a friend where he explained that the word 'Love' is used in English translations of the Bible had numerous different translations in the original Hebrew and Greek.

In early Greek for example there were four words that are all translated as 'Love': agápe, éros, philía, and storgē, each with a slight different meaning.

What I worry is that in the modern translations we have lost this depth of meaning, and all to often lost the action that must be associated with true Love. You cannot, for example, truly Love someone in need without feeling empathy (not sympathy) and if possible trying to do something to help.

I subtitled this piece 1 Corinthians 13 because I think this is one of the best verses in the Bible at explaining what true Love should look like.

What are your thoughts? Am I way off the mark?