Bethany Bullet - February 5, 2013

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.

It isn’t often we hear these words outside of a wedding ceremony.  Of course, it is very fitting that these words are often used at a wedding.  Husband and wife embracing these words and then basing their relationship upon them is indeed a blessed event.  However, these words were not written with the marital relationship in mind, but the congregational one.

Paul has taken us through our relationship and standing in the body.  Remember what we’ve heard thus far:  In this body there is equality.  That is, all of us are equally valued by God and each of us is equally valuable to the ministry of the church.  In this body there is individuality. Though God loves the community of the church and globally the inhabitants of earth; individually speaking He wants a personal relationship with each of us and individually He has gifted us for the well being and benefit of all in the body.  In these words from 1 Corinthians 13 Paul declares that in this body there is a unity based upon God’s great love for us in the person and work of Jesus; this unity is expressed through our love for one another. 

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer