Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable,
and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice
but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up,
never loses faith,
is always hopeful,
and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages
and special knowledge will become useless.
But love will last forever!
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels,
but didn’t love others,
I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy,
and if I understood all of God’s secret plans
and possessed all knowledge,
and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
but didn’t love others,
I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor
and even sacrificed my body,
I could boast about it;
but if I didn’t love others,
I would have gained nothing.
God works in different ways,
but it is the same God
who does the work in all of us.
But we know that there is only one God,
the Father,
who created everything,
and we live for him.
And there is only one Lord,
Jesus Christ,
through whom God made everything
and through who we have been given life.
…while knowledge makes us feel important,
it is love that strengthens the church.
Anyone who claims to know all the answers
doesn’t really know very much.
But the person who loves God
is the one whom God recognizes.
…What do you have that God hasn’t given you?
And if everything you have is from God,
why boast as though it were not a gift?
It’s not important who does the planting,
or who does the watering.
What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
The one who plants and the one who waters
work together with the same purpose.
And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.
No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—
his plan that was previously hidden,
even though he made it for our ultimate glory
before the world began.
For since the world began,
no ear has heard
and no eye has seen a God like you,
who works for those who wait for him!
….“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians 2:7; Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9
Now you have every spiritual gift you need
as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you strong to the end
so that you will be free from all blame
on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
God will do this,
for he is faithful to do what he says,
and he has invited you into partnership with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
…He made you holy by the means of Christ Jesus,
just as he did for all people everywhere
who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
their Lord and ours.
