1 Corinthians 13 (English Standard Version)

The Way of Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And 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 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When 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. 12For 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.

13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

We often think about this passage being in conjunction with weddings and couples, but Paul was addressing a different group of people when wrote this passage. Paul was addressing the entire church of Corinth, who were being unloving towards one another. If you look at the passage right before this one is talking about how there is a lack of cooperation in the church. The eye is saying to the hand, "I don't need you."

Love is an action. Love is self-sacrificial. Love over comes our sin nature. Later in this passage it discusses how when we where children we did what children do. Our words, our thoughts, our behavior all were child like. When we become men/women we are suppose to put these things behind us. As men and women of God, we are suppose to exemplify love. We are not to be caught up in our own childish ways. I all to often find my self angry in a situation. I would like to think that I would rise above it and still be able to show God's love to the world, yet I find myself more concerned with my childish desires. I wish to be a woman of God; however, the grace and love I wish to bestow on others alludes my grasp. My mind has sought out worldly solutions to my problems.


Dear Lord, may You give me the love I need to be able to show Your love to the world. Father, I need Your guidance as I go through out my day. That my actions could be traced back to You. One of our greatest testimonies is our actions. My actions are childish, seeking my own desires and gratification. Purify my life of everything that is not You, Father God. Give me love. Give me faith. Give me hope. Amen.