Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Ultimate Valentine

Love has so many definitions. I believe this is the ultimate -

1 Corinthians 13 - NIV

1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. 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.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

5 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

Always a lovely passage. Sounds like the wedding vows.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Prill Boyle said...

To me, there are really only two things going on in life: love and fear. In truth, perhaps love is all there is. (Just as a match can light up a pitch-dark room, love has a way of dispelling our deepest fears.) Anyway, I was just speaking about this passage to a friend yesterday.

Chester Campbell said...

That Paul had a way with words, didn't he? If I could live up to that ideal on Valentine's Day, or any other: patient, kind, not envious, nor boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, or easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs. Maybe if I just tried.

Sharon Reece said...

Great post for Valentine's Day.

Sharon Reece
http://grandmaisawriter.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. :-)