"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 completeness comes, what is in
part disappears." (1Cor 13:8-10 NIV)
How would you like to understand prophecies?
Wouldn't that be cool? Still the Bible tells us, "they will cease."
Those who speak in tongues know that this is
an amazing gift. Nonetheless, "Where there are tongues, they will be
stilled."
Prophecies are great. So is speaking in
tongues, but these things will not last.
My son, who is a PhD student, works most of
the time with a computer writing code and doing research. If everything
goes as planned, everything is good. However, if he has conflicts in his
computer codes, or if what he has been designing doesn't work the way it
should, he has to go back to the code that he created and find the
culprit. It can take days, weeks, and sometimes even months to track
down these problems! Fortunately, he is very good at what he does!
When my son gets everything to work the way it
should, he is able to relax. But only until the next problem in his code
arises. It must seem to him sometimes that it will never end. I am happy
to report that he is very patient and never seems to get upset.
I think, personally, that the toughest part of
what he is doing is that there are continually new problems arising.
They can come at any time! I don't do well with things like this!
The good news for him is that eventually it
will
all end.
The good news for all of us is that there is
only one thing that will never end, and that is love.
Would you like a bit more of God's unfailing
love? Make a habit of spending time with Him every day. Ask Him to teach
you to love like He loves, and over time, you'll see that you are
starting to develop that unfailing love as well!
And then maybe just maybe, with God's
unfailing love flowing through you, the mundain problems, the ones that
keep arising, will be easier to tackle with patience!
Rob Chaffart