Does anyone else have certain scripture you always like to go to? Read and reread? I do. If I don't know what else to read in the Word one day or I am having a rough day, I like to go to my favorites. One of these favorites is 1 Corinthians 13. I feel like every time I read it, God has something new to teach me at the particular point in my life.
1 Corinthians 13: 8-13
(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 completeness comes, what is in part 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 the ways of childhood behind me. (12)For now we see only a 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.
Last night I was reading this chapter again and felt God telling me to dig a little deeper than I usually do. Paul is talking about love and in verses 9 and 10 I noticed something that I had not before, God has given us spiritual gifts (knowledge, prophecy, etc...) to help the church grow, to help others see us as different and will help them come to Christ, and to praise God. Eventually these gifts will pass away he tells us. They will disappear. I found that a little odd... God blesses us with spiritual gifts then he takes them away? I believe Paul is trying to tell us here that spiritual gifts are good and beneficial but the thing that endures forever is love. When Jesus returns we will better understand his love for us. Now we have to believe what is given to us. Isn't it true that if we were given a picture of someone whom we had never met and if we studied that photo we would think we know everything(feature wise) about them? Until you meet that person for the first time do you realize that some things don't look like you thought because you can see more. It is no longer a 2D picture but a 3D person you are seeing. Just as in verse 12, it is the same between ourselves and God. We understand all that we can with the Word, Holy Spirit and the gifts He has given us but when we meet God face to face, Paul tells us that we will know him fully. We will understand His love fully and will be able to love the way he loves us!
I just think it is so neat that God can teach you different things from the same passage time and time again! So do you have places in the Bible God uses to speak to you over and over? This chapter in the Bible is so poetic and beautiful! I could read it everyday! I pray that Yahweh speaks to you through His Word today in a special way! God bless you and keep you!
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