This is a classic portion of scripture that is read at many weddings. It is the ultimate standard of what love is and it is clear that it is esteemed beyond all other spiritual gifts.
I Corinthians 13
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.
If I had the gift of prophesy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith so that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand it's own way, it is not irritable, and keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophesy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless but love will last forever!
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophesy reveals only part of the whole picture!
But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
Now we see see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
It became clear that not only would this passage be a challenge due to it's literary flow, but also because it was like holding a perfect measure to my own behaviour and seeing how very much I lack in the love department!
No comments:
Post a Comment