1 ¶ 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 cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 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.
4 ¶ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 ¶ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless. 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we 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. 13 Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.
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Ol Suit.
Perhaps no other prose in all the world has received the recognition and acclaim as that achieved by 1 Corinthians 13. There are no more-expressive words in human language than those found in this, the aptly-named, “Love Chapter” of the Bible.
Here we learn of a love that is truly worthy of being called love. Not like the fickle so-called “love” commonly found throughout the world, this love of which Paul writes mirrors the very love God has for us. Here we are told that love must saturate our faith and good works and knowledge. And here we are told that, if love is not the motive for our living then even our greatest works become useless and empty.
Anything that has such power to determine the success or failure of our lives is worthy of our study and should command our attention. For, in God’s eyes, everything in our lives will be judged by whether love was its motivation and guide.
It is the greatest because…
Love is the one grand essential of life. (1-3)
Nothing can replace it.
Nothing can survive its loss.
Not preaching.
Not knowledge.
Not good works.
It’s not just what we do that matters…it’s also why and how.
Even the world understands this. As Mae West once said:
Mae West.
“It’s not what I do, it’s how I do it.
It’s not what I say, it’s how I say it.
and how I look when I say and do it.”
Our motive is what matters most because our motive reveals the true nature of why we do what we do.
Love is well-behaved. (4-7)
Love has good manners.
Love controls its temper.
Love controls its speech and attitude.
Love forbears and forgives.
Love trusts.
Love has a future. (8-12)
Real love never quits!
It is not like the story that is told concerning a wealthy elderly man who had married a lovely young lady and he began to wonder whether she had married him just for his money. So, one day, he asked her if she would still love him even if he lost everything.
“Don’t be silly!” she said. “Of course I’d still love you! …and I would miss you terribly, too!”
When the quest for knowledge and the doing of good works have all faded away…love will still survive.
When everything imperfect has been discarded, love will still be standing.
Real love will last forever.
The famed orator and statesman, William Jennings Bryan, is a good example of this. Posing for a portrait, he was asked by the artist, “Why do you wear your hair over your ears?”
Mr. Bryan answered, “There’s a romance connected with that. When I began courting Mrs. Bryan she objected to the way my ears stood out. So to please her, I let my hair grow to cover them.”
“But that was many years ago,” said the artist. “Why don’t you have your hair cut now?”
“Because,” said Bryan, “the romance is still going on.”
Not even death can conquer love. As the Song of Solomon says (8:6) “…love is as strong as death…”
Love is “the Greatest” (13)
Love is even greater than faith and hope. Faith and hope (trust and optimism) are wonderful traits. But without love, these turn inward and will only be used for our own selfish ends instead of the good of everyone.
In her book, “Living with Love,” Josephine Robertson tells this story. “In 1883, a youthful preacher named Joe Roberts arrived by stagecoach in a blizzard to minister to the Indians of Wyoming. This great, wild area had been assigned to the Protestant Episcopal Church by President Grant. Soon after Joe Roberts arrived, the son of the chief was shot by a soldier in a brawl, and Chief Washakie vowed to kill the first white man he met. Since this might mean the start of a long, bloody feud, young Roberts decided to take action. Seeking out the tepee, fifteen miles away in the mountains, he stood outside and called the chief’s name. When Washakie appeared, Roberts opened his shirt.
”I have heard of your vow,” he said, “I know that the other white men have families, but I am alone. Kill me instead.”
The chief was amazed and motioned him into his tent. “How do you have so much courage,” he asked.
Joe Roberts told him about Christ, His death, His teachings. They talked for hours. When Joe left, the chief of the Shoshones had renounced his vow to kill and resolved to become a Christian. Washakie had seen love in action.
The world around us, too, is waiting to see love in action. Even if no one else demonstrates the core character traits of the Christian life, you and I may. And, after all, isn’t that how best to change the world. . .just one person at a time?
If I can help somebody
As I travel along
If I can help somebody
With a word or song
If I can help somebody
From doing wrong
THEN my living shall not be in vain!
My living shall not be in vain
My living shall not be in vain
If I can help somebody
While I’m singing this song
THEN my living shall not be in vain!
