Verse of the Day 8/29

1 Corinthians 13:13  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  English Standard Version (ESV)

As I considered and wrote about yesterday's verses about rejoicing always and praying continuously, today's verse from 1 Corinthians 13 came to mind.  If we are to be able to rejoice, to pray in all forms, love, the love of Christ must be in our hearts.  If it is there, the hope and faith should be there as well.

The chapter begins by saying that we may boast of many things but without love those words become a clanging gong or crashing cymbals.  Politicians can make great speeches about hope for the future and boast of all kinds of grandiose plans, but if there hearts are not in it, if they have other motives these changes will never take place.  The motives of and the attitude of the heart of a true God follower can be seen in the verses below from The Message.

Yesterday, my wife shared a post of Facebook which said " Marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other".  To which I responded with a quote from a Tim Allen movie "never surrender, never give up".  That is the attitude of faith, hope and love.

Today's verse should be another one that we memorize and bring to mind often.  These traits help us to look beyond current circumstances and focus on the what lies ahead, what God has planned and has in store for us, thoughts of hope and a future as we considered recently from Jeremiah 29.  The objects of faith, hope, and love will not be fully realized here but we can have a glimpse and set our sights and our hopes to a future in Christ.

Love......
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.    1 Corinthians 13:6-7 The Message

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

1 Corinthians 13:4-13The Message (MSG)

^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

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.

^8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹ When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

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!

¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.