On first reading of this title, many of you will smirk and say, “yeah, right.” That is your response because you’ve been deeply hurt by someone who told you they loved you. However, your experience does not negate what the scriptures say. Love will last forever! God is love, and it is a perpetual grace that will be in Heaven. When Paul says it will never fail, he is speaking of it lasting throughout eternity. He is showing the superiority of love to all the other gifts given by God.
I Corinthians 13:8 “Charity (love) never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”
Love never fails! A powerful statement that is difficult for us to understand. God gives many gifts to edify the church. These gifts certainly have great merit in honoring God and spreading the gospel. So, what are these gifts that are not as valuable as love?
The first gift mentioned is “prophecies.” This is the prediction of things to come or the interpretation of scripture by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This was a gift God endowed on certain men for the edification of the church during a specific time. It is no longer needed because we have the Holy Spirit and the full canon of scripture.
The gift of tongues mentioned here is translated language. It was given to spread the gospel to those who did not speak the same language as those who were preaching salvation through Jesus Christ. It was not gibberish but was a language that was unknown to the one speaking it, but it was known to the hearer.
Knowledge will pass away also. This is not saying that there will come a day we will all be ignorant. However, this is talking of knowledge that was supernaturally communicated or it could be talking about knowledge that is taught in a classroom of sorts. This will pass away because in eternity there will be no need for teaching.
Love will never fail because it will be in Heaven. These gifts that were so valued by the Corinthians, will no longer be needed. Prophecy will be fulfilled. Tongues or languages will be obsolete because we will all understand each other perfectly in our perfect bodies and minds. In our perfect state, supernatural knowledge will be complete. The permanent, perpetual grace of love will last forever!
You can be the most educated, charismatic, talented person in the world, but if you do not have the love of God within you and flowing from you, everything else about you is worthless! That is God’s view, and when everything is said and done, and this world is passed away, love is what matters, and it is eternal! Just to be clear, I’m not talking about a love defined by the world, but one defined by God. He is love therefore we need to look to him to see what love is. For the past eight days I have given you God’s description of love, so I will not rehash it here. In short order, it is kind, long-suffering, not envious, not prideful or arrogant, not rude, it is respectful, doesn’t seek its own way, it rejoices in truth, not in others “getting what they deserve,” it believes, it hopes, and it endures. That’s God’s definition of love.
