WOW!

We've all read it.
Have you thought about that it means?

1 Corinthians 13

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.
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.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
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.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
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.
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.
And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.



For a while, I wasn't entirely sure what the last portion was about. But I figured it out by reading another Bible translation. :-)
We can't see clearly, as humans. Our life, our circumstances, and even God Himself is all a fog. It's blurry. We can't see what's ahead or fully understand what's already here or already past. But when we meet God face to face in heaven, we will understand. We will see and know Him as clearly as He sees us. The understanding "in part" will pass away, and the understanding "in full" will take over.
As a child I talked like a child, and thought like a child, but when I became older, I put my childish ways behind.
As human, a sinner, I talk like a sinner, act like a sinner, think like a sinner, and my lack of understanding is like that of any human.
I have hope that only God gave me though, the hope that God offered through His Son. The hope I accepted when I became reborn in Christ.
I am in my physical body now, an unknowledgeable wretch, but I will someday see God in front of me. It won't be blurry. It won't be misunderstood. It won't be uncertain. It will be God, clear as day. I will know Him, and He will know me, and I will not be in my earthy body. I will be in heaven, with the ultimate love.

Until then, I must trust God always, hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly.
But most of all, I must love, for I am nothing without love.


Katie