LOVE

I have heard the words very often, from I Corinthians 13. It is known as the love chapter, and I am very familiar with it. However, it was just over the past couple of weeks, that this chapter impacted me in a fresh way. Our family decided to memorize I Corinthians 13, learning 1 verse 5 days a week; so in just over a couple weeks, we had the entire chapter put to memory. We reviewed it as a family and each had a chance to say the entire chapter (only 13 verses). Listening to it over and over again, learning it myself, saying it over and over again; and really concentrating on the words, made me think more about the message of this chapter than I had for many, many years. It is something I think about in some way, almost every day. As I write it here, let' consider the words, the truth and their intended impact on us:

I Corinthians 13
1- If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 - If 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.
3 - If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 - It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 - Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 - It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, alwys perseveres
8 - Love 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.
9 - For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 - But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 - When 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.
12 - Now 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.
13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.