Week Three: 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 Love Never Ends

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

I think the fact that we only know in part is a concept mothers are very familiar with. From the time we hold our first tiny baby and realize we’ve never done that before to the time we have our fourth and realize we’ve never done this before either, we live in a constant state of figuring it out as a momma. Something I’ve had to come to terms with recently is that I do not know how to love my kids perfectly. I want to make the perfect decisions for them and have the right emotional responses toward them, but sometimes I fail miserably. 

I am someone who is fascinated with the prophecies of the Bible; however, I still do not understand those fully. I have been trying to learn French for a few years now, and I still do not understand that language fully. Prophecies will all be fulfilled and knowledge truly will pass away at the sight of the glory of God. What will remain with us is the perfect love God has for each one of His children. We won’t need the other things once we are in that kind of love. There are two takeaways from these verses.

1. We can show ourselves and others grace because we only see in part. We may not be able to see fully and achieve perfect love yet, but we do need to strive toward those characteristics listed in verses 4-7. It really throws me off to see on social media how much women still tear each other down for how we work or parent or just do life. While we can all learn and there’s definitely a place to help each other out with a little correction, it can be done in a graceful manner which almost never should include public callouts. None of us are going to get it right 100% of the time. Would we still say all of the criticism we come up with to each other or even ourselves if God’s love was the lens used?

2. We have guidance from the One Who knows fully and loves perfectly. God doesn’t hide knowledge from us! He is the best advice you can seek, and He is always available. Make prayer your number one source for all knowledge. Because He loves perfectly we can rely on Him to not be misleading (see Part Two Love is…).

This is so encouraging, mommas, we are not alone in this journey of raising kids!