But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
The forgotten part of 1 Corinthians 13. After “love never fails,” everyone stops reading. But the chapter doesn’t stop there. It continues. And today it has several meanings for me.
When I first read that sentence, I thought, What in the world does that mean? It made no sense to me. But then I went back and checked out the opening lines of this chapter. They talked about speaking, prophecies, and knowledge. And for days, I wrote about how none of that stuff mattered if I didn’t have love when I did them.
But the truth of it is, none of that really matters at all. It’s all over eventually anyway. What really matters is the love.
This summer was my ten year high school class reunion. I was thinking about prophecies in terms of the predictions. Don’t all classes do the “most likely to” lists? Who remembers those in ten years other than those who received the votes? What about things people said? Well, the cliques are still there – at the ten year mark, anyway. But suddenly I care much less what others say about me, and for that matter, they didn’t say much other than “who are you?” The things they used to say were gone. As is much of the stuff I had to learn in high school. The bits I crammed in my head were gone after the test and haven’t returned. The predictions, the yammering tongues, the knowledge – all gone.
You know what’s still there? Friends who loved me. I still have good friends from high school. And what has stood the test of the decade is that bond. That love. That friendship. It hasn’t failed.
Today is September 11. The five year mark. All day today, the radio station I listened aired programs where people remembered and paid tribute. And that brought me to a whole new level of thinking about this part of 1 Corinthians 13.
All those who lost their lives on that day – their tongues were stilled. Their knowledge passed away. Their participation in life ceased. But what I heard over and over in the words of their family members today was that love lives on. What people remember was their love. The acts of love that they displayed through kindness, patience, protection, trust…all of that. It lives on.
So it doesn’t really matter, when push comes to shove. All the stuff we build so much around is fleeting. But love matters.
The forgotten part of 1 Corinthians 13. After “love never fails,” everyone stops reading. But the chapter doesn’t stop there. It continues. And today it has several meanings for me.
When I first read that sentence, I thought, What in the world does that mean? It made no sense to me. But then I went back and checked out the opening lines of this chapter. They talked about speaking, prophecies, and knowledge. And for days, I wrote about how none of that stuff mattered if I didn’t have love when I did them.
But the truth of it is, none of that really matters at all. It’s all over eventually anyway. What really matters is the love.
This summer was my ten year high school class reunion. I was thinking about prophecies in terms of the predictions. Don’t all classes do the “most likely to” lists? Who remembers those in ten years other than those who received the votes? What about things people said? Well, the cliques are still there – at the ten year mark, anyway. But suddenly I care much less what others say about me, and for that matter, they didn’t say much other than “who are you?” The things they used to say were gone. As is much of the stuff I had to learn in high school. The bits I crammed in my head were gone after the test and haven’t returned. The predictions, the yammering tongues, the knowledge – all gone.
You know what’s still there? Friends who loved me. I still have good friends from high school. And what has stood the test of the decade is that bond. That love. That friendship. It hasn’t failed.
Today is September 11. The five year mark. All day today, the radio station I listened aired programs where people remembered and paid tribute. And that brought me to a whole new level of thinking about this part of 1 Corinthians 13.
All those who lost their lives on that day – their tongues were stilled. Their knowledge passed away. Their participation in life ceased. But what I heard over and over in the words of their family members today was that love lives on. What people remember was their love. The acts of love that they displayed through kindness, patience, protection, trust…all of that. It lives on.
So it doesn’t really matter, when push comes to shove. All the stuff we build so much around is fleeting. But love matters.
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