SCRIPTURE
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV
The Way of Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
REFLECTION
Love is enriching.
Love is edifying.
Love is enduring.
Love never ends.
Love comes from God.
Believe it or not, this passage is not about marriage, even though it is commonly used in wedding ceremonies. The Apostle Paul is actually writing to the church, the body of believers. He is instructing them how to love each other in the context of the church. Imagine if we had more type of this love in the world. It seems to me that it certainly would be a better place.
Challenge: Throughout the day, every day, look for opportunities to love others like Christ, to love others as described in this passage.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV
The Way of Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
REFLECTION
Love is enriching.
Love is edifying.
Love is enduring.
Love never ends.
Love comes from God.
Believe it or not, this passage is not about marriage, even though it is commonly used in wedding ceremonies. The Apostle Paul is actually writing to the church, the body of believers. He is instructing them how to love each other in the context of the church. Imagine if we had more type of this love in the world. It seems to me that it certainly would be a better place.
Challenge: Throughout the day, every day, look for opportunities to love others like Christ, to love others as described in this passage.
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