THE GREATEST OF THESE IS GOD
He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 1 John 4:8, R.S.V.
In our quest to know God, let us explore 1 Corinthians 13 in view of our scripture for today. Since God is love, we may confidently use His name in place of the word love. Listen to what this familiar passage says about Him:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not [God], 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 [God], I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not [God], I gain nothing.
"[God] is patient and kind, [God] is not jealous or boastful; [He] is not arrogant or rude. [God] does not insist on [His] own way; [He] is not irritable or resentful; [He] does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. [God] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
[God] never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away When I was a child, I spoke as 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 understand fully, even as I have fully understood. So faith, hope, [God] abide, these three; but the greatest of these is [God]"--in whom we have faith! (R.S.V.).
It is not enough to say that God does loving things. God is love! In today's text God is not making an accusation against us. He is stating the truth, that we might learn the Source of love. He seeks to bring us to the realization that He understands us fully. He knows our past, our upbringing, our education, our failings, and our dreams. But this knowledge is consistently flavored with His love. He knows nothing about us apart from love!
God longs to have us understand Him too. But He knows that this can never be until we are fully secure in His knowledge of us.
He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 1 John 4:8, R.S.V.
In our quest to know God, let us explore 1 Corinthians 13 in view of our scripture for today. Since God is love, we may confidently use His name in place of the word love. Listen to what this familiar passage says about Him:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not [God], 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 [God], I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not [God], I gain nothing.
"[God] is patient and kind, [God] is not jealous or boastful; [He] is not arrogant or rude. [God] does not insist on [His] own way; [He] is not irritable or resentful; [He] does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. [God] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
[God] never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away When I was a child, I spoke as 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 understand fully, even as I have fully understood. So faith, hope, [God] abide, these three; but the greatest of these is [God]"--in whom we have faith! (R.S.V.).
It is not enough to say that God does loving things. God is love! In today's text God is not making an accusation against us. He is stating the truth, that we might learn the Source of love. He seeks to bring us to the realization that He understands us fully. He knows our past, our upbringing, our education, our failings, and our dreams. But this knowledge is consistently flavored with His love. He knows nothing about us apart from love!
God longs to have us understand Him too. But He knows that this can never be until we are fully secure in His knowledge of us.
RSS Feed
