Written ~ 11-26-2023
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
In verse 13:11 Paul is challenging us to grow up! We no longer need to be acting like children, we can handle the truth of the Bible and learn from its wisdom. If you have ever watched a toddler, you can see their little minds buzzing, but their reasoning has not yet been developed, they go headlong into danger without knowing the consequences. We might think, why in the world did they just do that! But in a child’s mind they are learning everything for the first time and with each experience it’s all going to be brand new and exciting. They test the limits because they don’t yet know what the outcome might be. Have you ever tried having a conversation with a two year old? Their words aren’t quite formed yet and their outbursts of emotion seem to come out of nowhere. Their little minds haven’t developed, but they are absorbing every little detail of their surroundings. They are learning. So, as we grow and mature, our knowledge gets more sophisticated and our reasoning isn’t like a child’s anymore, our logic and common sense have developed (well, hopefully 😉). We have grown into adults, we’ve had experiences that have helped us gain wisdom, our insight has developed. Paul said in 13:11b to put away childish things… it’s time to grow up and gain knowledge. Learning from the Word of God and seeking wisdom from its pages is a wonderful way to mature and learn how to thrive in this world we live in. Honestly, if you want logic building and common sense developing Scriptures, read the Book of Proverbs!
Verse 13:12,
12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
What is Paul talking about here?
In the couple of verses prior to this, Paul talks about how our knowledge of Heaven and of God as being limited, it is partial and incomplete. Then in verse 13:10 he says that when the time of perfection comes we won’t need the partial knowledge we have here on earth because we will have full knowledge and clarity when we get to Heaven. We’ll see the whole picture, the meaning behind everything God is doing. I love the way The Message Bible words verse 13:12,
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!
Sure, we may need to wait until Heaven to see things clearly, but we can strive to gain knowledge here on earth. If we don’t pursue knowledge, if we don’t gain wisdom from the Scriptures, what knowledge are we gaining? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have gained the Holy Spirit and He helps to open our minds and hearts to the things of Heaven. The Holy Spirit is the one who broadens our perspective. While on earth we long for Heaven and everything we do is focusing on one fact, that soon we will be standing face to face with the Almighty God and all we have strived for will come to fruition. We will understand just how much God loves us.
Verse 13:13,
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
While we are here on earth, these three things are what we must develop. Faith in Jesus Christ. Hope for eternal life. Love for one another.
The last couple of days we studied in 1 John 3:18-22 and 3:23-24, we learned what it means to love one another. In verse 13:13, all three of the things listed there are extremely important, but as we can see, the greatest of those three things is love. The Bible emphasizes love throughout. I believe it’s because we need constant reminding to love each other as Christ loves us. Faith and hope may not waver nearly as much as love. Look what verse 13:13 says, “Three things will last forever…” That’s means we will bring faith, hope and love to Heaven with us! In 1 Corinthians 14:1a it says, “Let love be your highest goal!” No matter what other gifts the Holy Spirit gives you to strengthen the body of Christ, you must pursue loving one another as the highest goal.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is probably one of the most quoted set of verses in the Bible… It does give us a great example of how love should be… (The Message Bible)
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
If those verses explain what love is and what love is not, where does your love measure up? Is your “love is” and “love is not” all mixed up?
What if those verses reflected how a lot of people may define love because of life’s experiences and the disappointments along the way…
What if you have always believed or experienced love to be like this?
Love always gives up ~
Love cares more for oneself than for others ~
Love wants everything it doesn’t have ~
Love struts about ~
Love has a swelled head ~
Love forces itself on others ~
Love is always “me first” ~
Love flies off the handle ~
Love keeps score of others sin ~
Love takes pleasure when others grovel ~
Love doesn’t want truth to flower and blossom ~
Love doesn’t put up with anything ~
Love never trusts God ~
Love never looks for the best ~
Love is always looking back ~
Love is conditional and will end ~
If love has been portrayed as something other than the verses from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, it would make sense why it would be difficult to make love the highest goal in our own lives. We need to look at the examples of love that we have from Jesus. If we only look for perfect love in people, we will be disappointed. But the love of God is never ending and perfect. Seek the love of the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His love today. Ask Him to rewrite the definition of love on your heart, put your “love is” and your “love is not” in the correct order.
So, what are the points we should learn from our passage today?
- Put childish behavior away
- Seek knowledge and wisdom
- Long for clarity when we get to Heaven
- Have faith, hope and love
- Love must be your highest goal
~AMEN~