…Christ died for our sins,
just as the Scriptures said.
He was buried,
and he was raised from the dead on the third day,
just as the Scriptures said.
He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.
After that,
he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time…
(Building in Wertheim, Germany built with smaller first floor because taxes were assessed on ground measurements)
Now we see things imperfectly,
like puzzling reflections in a mirror,
but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that I know now is partial and incomplete,
but then I will know everything completely,
just as God now knows me completely.
Love never gives up,
never loses faith,
is always hopeful,
and endures through every circumstance.
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.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6
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.
…For we are the temple of the living God.
As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
For God says,
“At just the right time, I heard you.
On the day of salvation, I helped you.”
Indeed, the “right time” is now.
Today is the day of salvation.
…We speak for Christ when we plead,
“Come back to God!”
For God made Christ, who never sinned,
to be the offering for our sin,
so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
So we are always confident,
even though we know
that as long as we live in these bodies
we are not at home with the Lord.
For we live by believing and not by seeing.
Yes, we are full confident,
and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies,
for then we will be at home with the Lord.
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone,
but the things we cannot see will last forever.
