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. – 1 Corinthians 13:12
John, the apostle, wrote almost entirely about the love of God and love for your neighbor in his first and second letters. This is understandable, as Jesus condensed the Ten Commandments into two: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
Today’s verse is taken from a letter in which Paul is writing to entreat the church at Corinth to have unity, not treating one as more important than another because of the spiritual gifts they had been given. Paul had written to the Philippians that he himself could have had his confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3-6).
But, here he is, dedicating an entire passage to love in a letter that calls for unity! Why? It would appear to be the characteristic that will last into eternity. You will no longer have a need for faith since it will be realized in your life in Heaven. Hope will be fulfilled in that you will see the Savior face to face. But love…love will be everlasting, you will experience a love you have never known… for God Himself is love (1 John 4:8).
Take time today to read Paul’s chapter of love with an eye toward eternity, encouraged to live today in a right relationship with those around you and with your God. Then pray for this nation and for its public officials, some of whom speak words of division rather than words that unify. Love for your fellow man will make the difference!
Today’s Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:12
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.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: 1 Corinthians 13
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. 2 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. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 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. 12 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.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
