Diamondlight
Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2009
- Messages
- 147
I have read where people tell you to put your own name in the place of the word 'Love' in this text from 1 Corinthians 13, to remind us of how we ought to be. Doing that has never helped me as i get to the "keeps no record of wrongs" part and realise in all humanity, that's impossible! So are the always statements, no one can ever 'always' do something unless we're perfect and we're not.
Then i thought, this isn't a statement for me to live up to, it's a picture of God and if i substitute the word 'Love' for the word God, then it makes perfect sense because God is perfect!
As soon as i put God in place of love, the verse became encouraging instead of condemning.
1 John 4:16 "God is love"
If i speak in the tongues of men and angels, and have not God (God is love), i am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol. 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 have not God (God is love), I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God (God is love), I gain nothing.
God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God (God is love) does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God (God is love) never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes (Jesus' return?), the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and God (God is love). But the greatest of these is God (because God is love).
And why do some versions translate this word 'charity'?
Then i thought, this isn't a statement for me to live up to, it's a picture of God and if i substitute the word 'Love' for the word God, then it makes perfect sense because God is perfect!
As soon as i put God in place of love, the verse became encouraging instead of condemning.
1 John 4:16 "God is love"
If i speak in the tongues of men and angels, and have not God (God is love), i am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol. 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 have not God (God is love), I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God (God is love), I gain nothing.
God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God (God is love) does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God (God is love) never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes (Jesus' return?), the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and God (God is love). But the greatest of these is God (because God is love).
And why do some versions translate this word 'charity'?
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