The Way of Love
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
- Love never gives up.
- Love cares more for others than for self
- Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
- Love doesn't strut,
- Doesn't have a swelled head,
- Doesn't force itself on others,
- Isn't always "me first,"
- Doesn't fly off the handle,
- Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
- Doesn't revel when others grovel,
- Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
- Puts up with anything,
- Trusts God always,
- Always looks for the best,
- Never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over
some day; praying in tongues will end; under-
standing will reach its limit. We know only a
portion of the truth, and what we say about
God is always incomplete. But when the
Complete arrives, our incompletes will be
canceled. When I was an infant at my
mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed
like any infant. When I grew up, I left
those infant ways for good. We don't
yet see things clearly. We're squinting
in a fog, peering through a mist . But it
won't be long before the weather clears
and the sun shines bright! We'll see it
all then, see it as clearly as God sees
us, knowing him directly just as he
knows us! But for right now, until
that completeness, we have three
things to do to lead us toward that
consummation: Trust steadily in
God, hope unswervingly, love
extravagantly. And the best
of the three is love.
1 Corinthians 13
The Message
He Leadeth Me
In pastures green? Not always; sometimes He
Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me
In ways where heavy shadows be.
Out of the sunshine warm and soft and bright -
Out of the sunshine into the darkest night,
I oft would faint with sorrow and affright,
Only for this - I know He holds my hand;
So whether in the green or desert land
I trust although I may not understand.
And by still waters? No, not always so;
Ofttimes the heaavy tempests round me blow,
And o'er my soul the waters and billows go.
But when the storms beat loudest and I cry
Aloud for help, the Master standeth by
And whispers to my soul, "Lo, it is I."
Above the tempest wile I hear Him say,
"Beyond this darkness lies a perfect day.
In every path of thine I lead the way."
So whether on the hilltops high and fair
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys where
The shadows lie - what matters? He is there.
So where He leads me, I can safely go,
And in the blellst hereafter I shall know
Why, in His wisdom, He hath led me so.
Rev. John F. Chaplain
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