1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 13If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Verse 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 do not have love, I am nothing. Verse 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Verse 4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant Verse 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; Verse 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Verse 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Verse 8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. Verse 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; Verse 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. Verse 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. Verse 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. Verse 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Devotion
The apostle Paul’s teaching about love, the greatest gift, is often read at weddings, so we might be surprised to hear this chapter in worship this coming Sunday. Of course, we always benefit from reflecting on our love for one another and its foundation in God’s love. The first verse of the chapter calls our attention to an ordinary expression of love—our speech. Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians that even the spiritual gift of tongues means nothing if we do not speak out of love. Love changes everything. Out of love, God used the awkward words of a young prophet, Jeremiah, both to destroy and to build up, and his speech moved nations. Out of love, God sent Jesus to preach and teach, to speak truth, first to the peasants of Nazareth and ultimately to the ends of the earth. His speech, his perfect love, changed the universe.
Prayer
God of love, you have placed faith and hope in our hearts. Teach us to speak and act always out of the love you have shown for us through the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.