8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [c] prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [d]became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror [e]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the [f]greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13...
We may get it wrong sometimes, but if we love, we will never fail. I like that. And I can tell you, I hate failing. I hate it when I fail and I hate it when you fail. But if we manage to access God's love in our failures... we have not failed! It's an amazing thought.
I tend to have a lot of expectations--it is both my strength and my downfall. I live in the world of ideals and when you or I don't match up, I can be disappointed. I get disappointed in leadership, in church, in friendships, and most of all in myself... I expect a lot from myself and others...
But I know it's no way to live. It's that striving and driving part of my personality. God is teaching me to rest in the fact that we have peace with God by FAITH...we are justified by faith. Just by believing and trusting in Him. Not in what you or I can say or do. I know it's basic and simple, and yet so profound. It is something we almost just skip over when we are reading Romans 5...Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...
I have peace with God and I have peace with you. Period.
Your righteousness or "rightness" does not come from you or me...but from God. And we have it by faith. Somehow, God's love "covers" all those imperfections. We can rest in that.
This side of heaven we will not see perfection. We know in part and we prophesy in part. There is no one who has the full picture or revelation. We won't get it completely--but if we rest in God's love we can live with those imperfections and come into maturity and peace with God.
I have this kind of childish streak in me when I don't get my way or when things are not the way they are "supposed" to be. I've noticed that it steals my joy. I am learning to remember that we don't have the full picture yet and that we are seeing in a mirror dimly.
And I am learning to feed on God's love daily. It fills me. It covers those disappointments...
3 And not only this, but [c]we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Even if I am learning that nothing and no one is perfect...I still persevere through the challenges and difficutlies. I am still reaching. And in my perseverance it is working in me proven character and in my proven character a hope that is not disappointed because of LOVE. I am tired of being disappointed because my hope was in the wrong place.
I'm not giving up. I keep getting up. And God helps me not to be disappointed because of HIS love.
So love never fails. Leaving childish thinking behind, I have to accept that there is no perfect church or relationship or leader... and live in the peace that God's love makes up for all our imperfections. I can accept the way things are without compromising my high ideals or standards. That's where God is taking me.
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