Letters From PaulIsampula

PREPARE

Take a moment to quiet your heart as you set aside today’s distractions.

Ask God to prepare you to read and receive his holy Word.

READ: 1 Corinthians 13

Dear Friend,

I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned—but if I have no love, this does me no good.

Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.

When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways. What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God’s knowledge of me.

Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Love,

Paul

REFLECT

This letter was originally written to the church in Corinth in Greece. Based on the passage you read today, what kinds of struggles do you think this church faced? Do you face any similar struggles?

How do you communicate love through words and actions to your family, friends, church, and community? How could this passage inspire you to grow in this area?

PRAY

Choose one attribute of love Paul shares in this passage: “Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up, and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.” Pray and ask God to help you grow in this attribute of biblical love today.

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