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 the time of
perfection 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, like puzzling
reflections in a 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.
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 NLT
Much of this scripture passage (combined
with earlier verses) has been used forever at weddings, put on matching towels
and just about any item you can think of in stores, and is probably very
familiar to us. It is a symbol of unity, but at the time, it was written to be a
plea to come together as a church body. The Corinthian church was in the midst
of disorder, misusing some of their spiritual gifts, and causing conflict with
one another. Earlier in chapter 12, Paul spoke about how many people in the
church were using their gifts without the proper perspective and how that can
ultimately become harmful to the Body. The reason that love is more powerful
than these gifts is because the gifts themselves are temporary. But if gifts are
used to strengthen the rest of the Body of Christ -- the benefits go on forever.
Paul was trying to show that love (the love that Jesus shows us) is eternal and
that gifts are not. At that time in Corinth, the early church did not have a
full understanding of love and humility. Paul was trying to move the Corinthians
(with their gifts) away from his critique of them as being selfish, boastful,
and divisive. He wanted them to understand that, without real love, all of these
other “skills” are useless in God’s kingdom.
We are to identify with God’s plan for us --
and not our own plan based on our finite understanding of gifts. This is where
verse 12 becomes crucial to our understanding of this traditional nice-feeling
passage. We all know that we sin and fall short of God’s glory, but what can we
do to alter our understanding to get closer in line with God’s design? We won’t
ever fully know, but we have received revelations of how to think and how to act
from the Bible and through Jesus’ actions and teachings. We know to encourage,
to refrain from speaking critically, to give to those who have need, and to
treat others how we would like to be treated. We see daily how many of our
“leaders” (while even using their Christianity and faith as a podium) are not
always being mindful of these tenants from God (through Paul). Despite what
happens in the world around us, we have to be the doers of the Word as much as
we can, and hopefully there will come a day where they will be convicted to do
the same and lead by example.
Perhaps there will come a time when
Christians will no longer be clanging cymbals but more consistently acting
symbols of God’s principles. Although we may all feel that, as small agents of
Jesus, we don’t do well enough or continue to fall short based on how we
normally identify success (in our job, as a family member, or anything else), we
should remember that our identity is from God-- and that what we see now is more
like those “puzzling reflections in a mirror” that verse 12 mention. We are
children of God and reconciled through Jesus following his sacrifice; full
clarity is yet to come! We are being sought by God no matter how short we have
fallen. Amazing Love (how can it be)! This comfort (His love) is what we are
called to offer to others, and there’s no better time than this season to
further spread that message. Let’s continue to pray for the many Christians in
the public spotlight-- that they, who have the biggest opportunity to impact the
world for good, would be amazing witnesses to the principles of I Corinthians 13.
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