The Perfect Binding Agent

I am reading Colossians chapter 3 this morning. There are tons of things to think about in this chapter. The one I have tried to hone in on is the thing that is said to be the perfect binding agent...love.

Colossians 3:12-17..12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 In trying to figure out how love could bind everything together, I hopped over to 1 Corinthians 13 to find help...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7..4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This little nugget of sweetness gives us a helpful list of what love is, and what it is not..
LOVE IS/DOES...
1. Patient
2. Kind
3. Rejoices over truth

LOVE IS NOT/DOES NOT...
1. envious
2. boastful
3. arrogant
4. rude
5. insistent on its own way
6. irritable
7. resentful
8. rejoice over wrong doing

When you or I envy someone, we are hating them and loving self. When we boast in front of someone, we are hating them and loving self. When we are arrogant, we are hating the hearer and loving self. When we are rude, we are hating the one hearing our rudeness and loving self. When we insist on our own way, we are hating another and loving ourselves. When we are irritated, we are hating another and loving self. When we are resentful, we are hating another and loving self. When we rejoice over wrong doing, we are hating the hearer, and the one who did the wrong, and loving self, because we are placing ourselves above the individual who did the wrong.

Can you go through the above list and place either "patience, kindness or rejoicing over truth" into the equation and see how love would bind together and unite instead of divide? How it would bring about perfect harmony?