For now there are faith, hope, and love. But of these three, the greatest of these gifts is love.
What if I could speak all languages of humans and even angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What if I could prophesy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge? And what if I had faith that moved mountains?I would be nothing, unless I loved others. What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive? I would gain nothing, unless I loved others. Love is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick-tempered. It doesn’t keep record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails. Everyone who prophesies will stop, and unknown languages will no longer be spoken. All that we know will be forgotten. We don’t know everything, and our prophecies are not complete. But what is perfect will someday appear, and what isn’t perfect will disappear. When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us. For now there are faith, hope, and love. But of these three, the greatest is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
We use tape measures to see how to fit something somewhere , or when building how to make all parts meet together and create something we are dreaming of having in our homes. Without the measure , or guide, or standards it is impossible. I know I have tried to build a bookshelf without measuring things, it simply did not work for me. This howbeit long, but very important guideline about love has been what I have used to measure myself given multiple circumstances in my life to bring me back to standards that are right, acceptable and would ultimately make every difficult situation better. I wish I could say that I have always followed these standards to a “T”, but that would not be true, I am human. When I am in a quandary about what is right , or what is wrong, this is the scripture that is my go to. Love is a supernatural key to everything, love without conditions.