1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 13If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Verse 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Verse 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Verse 4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant Verse 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; Verse 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Verse 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Verse 8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. Verse 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; Verse 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. Verse 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. Verse 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. Verse 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Devotion
The child does not understand everything; even we who are older still see only in a mirror. An old mirror will serve us best for seeing Paul's point. A modern mirror lit by electric lights gives back too sharp an image, one that tempts us to claim more knowledge than we have. The mirrors of Paul's time were made of polished metal and the reflection they returned was more like seeing one's self in a hub cap or a dark window.
What do we see hazily? These verses are only part of Paul's point. Reattached to the previous chapter they show the wider picture—not just an image of my own self, but rather that each one of us is part of the body of Christ. Even adults seldom have a clear understanding of how our part contributes to the body’s work or an accurate notion of what the others do. Even so, even now we can have wavering but telling glimpses of the more excellent way of love.
Prayer
You know me fully, God. When I revert to childish ways and look only to my own advantage, clear my vision. Turn my eyes to you. Show me the work that I can do. Fill my actions with love. Amen.