Love is Forever

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE IS FOREVER

1 Cor 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 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.

NIV

This is where those vehemently opposed to the gifts of the Spirit being active in the church today get their misguided doctrinal position, specifically about prophecy, tongues, and interpretation. We believe this because of the misunderstood interpretation of what Paul is saying here. The first clue that the gifts are still at work in the church is that the Spirit is still active today. Because faith, hope, and love remain, Paul is speaking about a world to come. Someday, this present world will pass away and when that happens there will be no need for prophecies for everything will have been fulfilled, and everything will be made perfect, as it said right here when the perfection comes, and the imperfect disappears. This is the present world, even the present church which is now imperfect and while this imperfection still exists the Spirit is active in the church, and prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will continue until perfection comes. Jesus is the perfection that Paul is speaking about and when Jesus comes back for us, all the imperfections of this world will fade away and we will live in a new world and a new city where there is no darkness at all for God is the light. The childish ways in the world today are all about this foolish debate about when prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will be stilled. A child simply does not understand the truth of God. A child plays with truth, reasoning about the scriptures like a child, and it is time to put away that folly and be the man or woman of God that He wants us to be. Once again, Paul speaks about the difference between this world and the world to come when he says that we only see a poor reflection as in a mirror, but in the world to come we will see Jesus face to face. There is no question that in the world to come love will be all that remains, for it is the love of God who has brought us to this place we are in now and it is the love of God that will take us into the place Jesus promised we would be. Let us set aside childish ideas and think soberly as the person of God he desires us to be. Therefore, until this perfection comes, this new world where we live in the physical presence of our Lord, we will continue to have prophecies, tongues, and knowledge, as well as all the gifts of the same Spirit who works them in all men. However, we will always have faith, hope, and love because of the coming perfection, and love will continue throughout eternity.