Today's Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Paul was preaching to a church that was less than perfect. People had their own interpretations of what it meant to be Christian and what it meant to have particular spiritual gifts. In this section, Paul puts it all together, reminding the Church in Corinth that the true measure of spirituality and spiritual maturity is love.
Today's Comments: The implication of Paul's writings for today are that gifts of the spirit are given to us to assist us in worship of God and to assist us in helping our neighbor. Therefore, all spiritual gifts are interpreted within the meaning of love. And that love is measurable because it expresses itself in everyday actions and attitudes.
As I have quoted, so many times before, St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, us words." That is the yardstick by which, I think, we are measured, and it is an area in which we often fall short.
Today's Hymn:
Immortal Love—forever full,
forever flowing free,
forever shared, forever whole,
a never ebbing sea!
We may not climb the heav’nly steeps
to bring the Lord Christ down;
in vain we search the lowest deeps,
for Him no depths can drown.
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
a present help is He;
and faith has still its Olivet,
and love its Galilee.
The healing of His seamless dress
is by our beads of pain;
we touch Him in life’s throng and press,
and we are whole again.
Thru Him the first fond prayers are said
our lips of childhood frame;
the last low whispers of our dead
are burdened with His name.
O Lord and Master of us all,
whate’er our name or sign,
we own Thy sway, we hear Thy call,
we test our lives by Thine!
Osbeck, Kenneth W.: Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Kregel Publications, 1990, S. 46
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Paul was preaching to a church that was less than perfect. People had their own interpretations of what it meant to be Christian and what it meant to have particular spiritual gifts. In this section, Paul puts it all together, reminding the Church in Corinth that the true measure of spirituality and spiritual maturity is love.
Today's Comments: The implication of Paul's writings for today are that gifts of the spirit are given to us to assist us in worship of God and to assist us in helping our neighbor. Therefore, all spiritual gifts are interpreted within the meaning of love. And that love is measurable because it expresses itself in everyday actions and attitudes.
As I have quoted, so many times before, St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, us words." That is the yardstick by which, I think, we are measured, and it is an area in which we often fall short.
Today's Hymn:
Immortal Love—forever full,
forever flowing free,
forever shared, forever whole,
a never ebbing sea!
We may not climb the heav’nly steeps
to bring the Lord Christ down;
in vain we search the lowest deeps,
for Him no depths can drown.
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
a present help is He;
and faith has still its Olivet,
and love its Galilee.
The healing of His seamless dress
is by our beads of pain;
we touch Him in life’s throng and press,
and we are whole again.
Thru Him the first fond prayers are said
our lips of childhood frame;
the last low whispers of our dead
are burdened with His name.
O Lord and Master of us all,
whate’er our name or sign,
we own Thy sway, we hear Thy call,
we test our lives by Thine!
Osbeck, Kenneth W.: Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Kregel Publications, 1990, S. 46
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