Reading With the People of God - #6 LOVESample

Memorization Challenge: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Reading Primer: Pray this...

Merciful and Faithful God,

As we come before Your Word, we ask for Your Spirit’s guidance to open our hearts and minds. In the psalms, lead us to experience the joy of forgiveness and the freedom found in Your grace. In Deuteronomy, give us courage as we hear Your promises of strength and presence in the face of uncertainty. And in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, inspire us with the boldness and love of those who faithfully proclaim Your gospel.

Let Your Word illuminate the path we walk, transforming our lives with Your truth and empowering us to follow You with faith and hope. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.