Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 1 Corinthians 13
Set – Psalms 39, 41; 1 Corinthians 13
Go! – Judges 4-5; Psalms 39, 41; 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13
1 What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. 2 What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. 3 I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; 5 it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs 6 or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! 7 Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. 8 Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed. 9 Gifts of knowledge and prophecy are partial at best, at least for now, 10 but when the perfection and fullness of God’s kingdom arrive, all the parts will end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned in childlike ways as we all do. But when I became a man, I left my childish ways behind. 12 For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Listen carefully. This is what it’s all about. I created humankind to have loving relationships with Me and with each other. The church is all about love. My coming in human flesh and dying on the cross is all about My love for you. The entirety of the Bible echoes My love for My highest creation and My plan to redeem fallen humankind.
Today’s problem is that love has been hijacked by the entertainment world and made it something I never meant it to become. The cheap lust that the world substitutes for real love continues to pull people, young and old, into its clutches. But My intentions for men and women were much higher than the temporary pleasures Satan uses to tempt lost souls.
Read Paul’s description of real love in several different translations and let its meaning soak into your heart. Understand what I want from you as you relate to one another. I want you to love Me and love one another with the conscious, deliberate love Paul describes. It’s not an emotion, it’s an action. It’s a decision you make when you love one another. Here’s that description again to show you it’s not an emotion.
“Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. Love will never become obsolete.”
I gave Paul these words because love is an action, a practice, a purpose, a choice you make every day with those around you. You can love your spouse, children, and family. You can love your brothers and sisters in Christ. You can also love your enemies. How? Because love is a choice, an action, a purpose, a practice you exercise each day. With My help, there is no one you cannot love. And remember what I told you in My word. If you cannot love your brother whom you can see, you cannot love Me whom you cannot see.
It might not be a bad idea to put this part of Paul’s letter in a place you can read it every day for a week to remind yourself what I want from you in your relationship with Me and each other. Give it try and see where you might be falling short.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.