1 Corinthians 13

How often do we wait on God?

I've been pondering 1 Corinthians 13 for a few days, something that I've never done before. Heck, I doubt I've ever read it more than once, because, after all, it's that spot in the Bible reserved for those happy couples getting married, right? Ergo, not applicable to me. Ha. I'm learning some interesting things from this chapter...

What does it mean to persevere? How often do we wait on God?

I can handle hard circumstances. I can handle doing brave things at the right time, generally. But can I handle hard circumstances for the long haul?

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. 2If 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. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love 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.

Love always perseveres.
This requires faith and hope. Perseverance requires hope.

Jesus persevered. Three years spent traveling the desert country to teach and to bring his people to him. Three years of hardship, of knowing that this was all going to end in his death anyway. Is it all worth it?
And at the end of these three years, everything wasn’t resolved all nice and pretty. Instead, his perseverance was rewarded with betrayal, humiliation, and 6 hours on a cross—a criminal’s tree. His perseverance was rewarded with the sum of our scorn and sin.
But he persevered because he saw us. He persevered because he had hope that his children, the children he loves, would come to know the Father and spend eternity with them, and be made new.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.