Love Never Fails
“Love 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.”
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
We have come to the last day of the month, and it is right to stop and give thanks.
Look back over these thirty-one days. There were good days and hard ones. Some prayers were answered in ways you can now point to. Others are still open, and you are carrying them into September. Through all of it, God has been faithful, and His faithfulness has not depended on the quality of your response to it.
It is fitting that we end where we began, with love.
“Love 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.”
Now, notice where 1 Corinthians 13 sits. This is not a wedding reading, however often it is used as one. It sits in the middle of Paul’s long discussion of spiritual gifts in chapters 12 to 14, addressed to a church that was gifted, enthusiastic, and behaving badly. They were competitive about their gifts, dismissive of one another, chaotic in their meetings, and divided at the Lord’s table. Paul does not respond by telling them to want the gifts less. He responds by showing them “the most excellent way.”
Read chapter 13 from the beginning and feel its force. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong. If I have prophetic powers, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own and hand over my body to hardship, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Nothing. Not “less.” Nothing.
That is a sobering measure, and it applies to all of us who care about doctrine, about ministry, about being right. You can be correct and be nothing.
This matters particularly for those of us who believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we should say so plainly. Paul is not embarrassed by the gifts; three chapters here are devoted to encouraging their proper use, and he tells the Corinthians to “eagerly desire” them. But the gifts must flow through the character of Christ, or they will damage the very people they were given to build up. A gift exercised without love does not merely lack warmth. Paul says it profits nothing.
And why does love never fail while the gifts cease? Because of what the gifts are for. Prophecy, tongues and knowledge are provisions for this present age, when “we know in part.” They are the equipment for a journey. Verse 12 says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” When we see Him face to face, the equipment for seeing partially will no longer be needed. Faith will become sight and hope will become possession. Love will not be replaced by anything, because love is what we will be doing forever.
Love is the only thing you do now that you will still be doing in eternity.
So what does this love look like? Paul has already told us in verses 4 to 7, and every phrase is worth sitting with. Patient. Kind. Not envious, not boastful, not proud. Not dishonouring others, not self-seeking, not easily angered. Keeps no record of wrongs. Does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Notice how few of those are feelings and how many are behaviours. Notice too that “rejoices with the truth” sits right in the middle. This love is not soft on reality. Real love and real truth are allies, not rivals.
And notice this is not a list of resolutions. Read those verses again and put the name of Jesus in place of the word love, and you will find it describes Him exactly. This is not primarily a standard to achieve; it is a portrait of Christ, and the fruit the Spirit produces in those who abide in Him (Galatians 5:22).
Which is why love is not weakness. It takes strength to forgive when you have every right not to. It takes patience to keep listening to someone you have already understood. It takes humility to serve where no one will ever know you did it. Anyone who thinks love is the soft option has never seriously attempted it.
So as August ends, do two things.
Thank God for His love. Not in general, but specifically. Name what He has done for you this month, and above all name the cross, because 1 John 4:10 tells us this is where love is defined: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Everything we have said this month rests there.
And ask the Holy Spirit to make that love more visible in you. In your home, where it is hardest. In your church, where it is most tested. In your workplace, where it is most surprising.
Carry this into the new month. Gifts will cease. Seasons will change. Prophecies will be fulfilled and knowledge will be swallowed up in sight. But love never fails.
Let everything you do remain rooted in the love of Christ.
Prayer
Father, thank You for carrying me through this month, through the answered prayers and the ones still open. Thank You most of all for the cross, where love was defined once and for all. Forgive me for the times I have been right without being loving, gifted without being kind, busy without being patient. Make me more like Jesus, in whom every line of 1 Corinthians 13 is fulfilled. Let Your love be visible in my home, in my church and in my work. And as I step into a new month, keep everything I do rooted in the love of Christ. In His name, amen.
Declaration
Gifts will cease and seasons will change, but love never fails. I step into a new month rooted in the love of Christ.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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