1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Footnotes:
[a] 1 Corinthians 13:1 Or languages
[b] 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some early manuscripts body that I may boast
2 comments:
1 Cor 13
Out of one of my favorite chapters, and one I feel like I really do live by, verse 3 jumps out with this particular reading:
3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
It reminds me that its really the motive that matters, and not the works. Similar to Sunday giving, it doesn't matter how much we give, in comparison to the attitude that God wants us have when giving. I struggled with this a little last year, when my son was around 6 months old, I would work all day and come home and begrudgingly go straight to the dishes, and then to dinner, and then to cleaning up, etc. I was essentially flogging myself because that's what I was supposed to do. What I learned was that all I got was more frustration and buildup of resentment towards my wife and son, because I wasn't living, and I wasn't loving. Once I got my head in the right place, I found out that if I loved first, no one else cared how quickly the chores got done, and I ended up closer to my family and became a better father and husband by working on the motive before the works.
In Christ,
crb
1 Cor 13
13 There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
Father God, give us the strength to love one another as You loved the church. To be humble and loving toward others and to be salt and light.
We should strive daily to adopt the defintion of love vs 4-7 and let people see Christ in us.
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