Reading With the People of God - #6 LOVESample

Memorization Challenge:1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Reading Primer: Wake Up and Pay Attention

After hugs and pleasantries, as we met our granddaughters to bring them home for a visit, Florence asked, “Lala, why is your hair messy?” Excited to leave, I decided to leave my hair straight instead of curling it that day. Apparently, that was “messy” in this 4-year-old’s mind. In their innocence, children will notice and point out the most minute detail that no one else notices and heaven forbid they declare it loudly, especially if it is embarrassing!

Our reading in 1 Thessalonians completes Paul’s first letter to the church, challenging them to be alert. How often do we overlook the obvious in our physical environment, in our relationships, and in our lives? When they do, we feel like things “sneak up on us” because we fail to notice and focus.

As we have been reading this plan, we read about how the Israelites failed to notice (or obey) what God told them to avoid clearly, and it cost them dearly. We are also easily distracted from the purposes and plans of God in our world and our time, but God is always working, and we must be diligent in watching for where He is at work in our lives. Paul wanted to remind us that if we are not intentionally aware, the Day of the Lord could be upon us and we would have missed all that He has done in the meantime.

Let’s keep watch, declare, and celebrate all that God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. We have a lot to declare loudly!

- Gaylyn Mott, Teacher, Musician, Yarn artist