Common Sense Reborn

June 27

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.  ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  ¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  (1 Corinthians 13:8-12)

As you can see, we have covered three days of verses from one single chapter in 1 Corinthians.  These are the wonders of the works of Paul.  Tomorrow we’ll close out our study of chapter 13 with one of the most powerful sentences ever written in the history of mankind.  But today, I want us to look at these verses above.  Paul begins by continuing his teachings about the truth and power of love:  love will outlast prophecies, language, even knowledge.  But my favorite part about these verses is Paul pointing out how he leaves the “ways of childhood” behind him when he becomes a man.

America, we need to wake up, to stop looking at our reflection in the mirror, we need to see our fully known purpose.  We are no longer a country in our infancy, in our childhood.  We are adults, yet we bicker like children.  We are grown men and women, yet we run from our problems like scared toddlers.  We are the great hope of the world, let’s start acting like it.  Let’s stand up for injustice, stand up for equality, stand up for peace, stand up for love.  We are fully known in Christ alone.  It is time we started acting like it each and every day.

Reading plan:  2 Corinthians 8, 9

Deeper reading plan: Proverbs 19, 20, 21

Prayer and meditation:  Pray for our country.  Pray for love to conquer all.  Pray that Christ infects our hearts and ignites a final fire of revival to sweep this land.

Fitness challenge:  Run a 5k for time!

Serve Day:  Get out, get involved.  Cities need to be cleaned, the broken need to be loved.