I looked in the mirror today and thought: Wow, how I have changed. Then, I realized that I have been constantly changing- just like the man in the photo. But, some things have not changed; things on the inside. I still think and feel (and sometimes act) like I did decades ago. Yet, I know that this too will eventually change. The 13th chapter of 1stCorinthians taught me this...
1 Corinthians 13 ( World English Bible )
1Co 13:1, If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2, If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3, If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
1Co 13:4, Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
1Co 13:5, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
1Co 13:6, doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
1Co 13:7, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1Co 13:8, Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
1Co 13:9, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
1Co 13:10, but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
1Co 13:11, When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
1Co 13:12, For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
1Co 13:13, But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love. (emphasis added)
There is one more picture that should be added to that one showing the stages of life. It is a picture of what this person will look like as a resurrected being. I have no idea exactly what it will look like, but I do know from other Scriptures that it will be recognizable. How old will we appear in our resurrected bodies? Good question; I just plainly do not know. Since some people only knew us at different stages of our lives, so perhaps we will look different to different people? So, will there be a constant identifier for everyone to recognize us? My answer is a resounding “YES”- LOVE!
Message to self: Love more, for all the right reasons, because it is the only thing that will really endure.
No comments:
Post a Comment