Love Like Him: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Have you ever said, or heard someone say, “When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God _____”? Or, “I’m going to get in line to ask Mary _____”? I have thought those many times! As clear and direct as Scripture is, it is also mysterious. It requires faith to believe when you can’t have the answers to every question you ask.

Today we are looking at 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. It is about what we can know and what we can’t know. It’s about what’s truly important in our quest for knowledge.

Paul says in this passage,  “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

We are currently living in a world of “in part knowledge.” We know what Scripture reveals, but Scripture doesn’t reveal everything. God’s inspired, infallible, inerrant Word includes exactly what He wanted us to know, but it doesn’t include everything we want to know.

Have you been around a four-year-old recently? How many questions did you have to answer during your conversation with him/her? It’s a constant stream of who, when, where, why, and how! Like four-year-olds, we have lots of questions.

I think Paul was there at one point in his life. He writes, “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.” I believe he’s saying something like this, “When I was young in my faith, I tried to figure everything out. I questioned everything. I wanted answers. But now that I’m a man, I rely on my faith instead of my knowledge. I rest in hope instead of strive to figure it all out. And above all, I love.” 

I’m not suggesting you stop asking questions. God gave us His Word so we could study, learn, and grow in knowledge of Him. But don’t focus so much on your questions that you forget what is truly important. Paul says what we know in part, we will eventually know in full. Until that time, he reminds us,  “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

What did you learn from your study of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13? How are you finding that balance between asking questions and resting in faith, hope, and love?