1 Corinthians 13
13
1You see, we can have power from God, but if we don’t love people, we are nothing. Suppose we talk in the languages of other people and even talk in the languages of angels, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless. We will only be making a noise, like somebody banging a drum or hitting a bell. 2Suppose we tell people God’s messages, and suppose we know God’s secrets and understand all about everything, and suppose we trust God so strongly that we can get him to move mountains, but if we don’t love other people, we are nothing.#Matthew 17:20; 21:21; Mark 11:23 3Suppose we give everything that we have to poor people, and suppose we stay strong for Jesus, even if somebody burns our bodies so that we die, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless.
4If we love people, we will be good to them, and we will not get angry with people that give us trouble. If we love people, we will not be jealous of them. If we love people, we will not reckon we are better than they are, and we will not think we are really good when we are not good. 5If we love people, we will not be rude to them or shame them. If we love people, we will think about what they want, not just what we want for ourselves. If we love people, we will not get angry with them quickly, and we will not keep on remembering the bad things they did to us. 6If we love people, we will not be happy if they do things that are wrong, but we will be happy if they do things that are right and true. 7If we love people properly, we will keep on loving them, no matter what happens. If we love people, we will keep on believing good things about them, and we will keep on hoping good things for them, and even if we are getting trouble, we will not give up.
8You know, I talked to you already about the special power that God gives to his people, and now I’m telling you that one day we will stop using that special power. But we can’t stop loving people. If you love somebody properly, you will always love them. But the time will come when God will not need to give us special power any more. When that time comes, God will not tell people his special messages, and God will not get people to talk in special languages, and God will not let people know special things.
9You see, now we only know a little bit, and the special messages that we get from God only tell us a little bit. 10Right now we only have a little bit of what God wants to give to us. But the time will come when he will let us understand everything properly. Then we will not worry about the little bits any more.
11I’ll use a picture story about myself to show you what I mean. When I was a little kid I talked like a little kid, and I thought about things the way a little kid thinks about things. I only understood what a little kid can understand. But then I grew up, and now I’m a man, and I’ve stopped thinking like a little kid. 12This is what that story means. Now we only understand a little bit. It is like we are looking at things in a dark mirror now. But the time will come when everything will be clear to us, like we are looking straight at them, not in a mirror. Right now we only know a little bit, but at that time we will know everything properly, just like God knows us properly.
13So I’m saying there are 3 important things for us to keep on doing.
– We have to keep on believing in God.
– We have to keep on knowing for sure that God will be good to us.
– We have to keep on loving God and people.
We have to keep on doing those 3 things, and the most important one is this,
– We have to keep on loving God and people.
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© 2021, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 13
13
Love Is the Greatest of All
1If I speak in the languages of human beings or even of angels, but I don’t have love, I’m only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him, and if I have enough faith to move mountains, but I don’t have love, I’m nothing at all. 3If I give everything I have to the poor, and I endure so much hardship that I can brag about it, but I don’t have love, that doesn’t do me any good at all.
4Love is patient and kind. It doesn’t want what belongs to other people. It doesn’t brag, it isn’t proud, 5and it doesn’t treat other people with disrespect. Love doesn’t look out for its own interests. It doesn’t become angry easily. It doesn’t keep track of other people’s wrongs. 6Love takes no joy in bad things happening, but it’s full of joy when the truth prevails. 7Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.
8Love never fails. But prophecies will end; unknown languages will go silent; knowledge will disappear. 9Now we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part. 10But when what is complete arrives, the things that are not complete will disappear. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I had the understanding of a child. But when I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12Now we see only a dim reflection of things, as if we were seeing them in a foggy mirror. But someday we will see clearly, face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.
13These three things will never end: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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