Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
LOVE NEVER ENDS
Today’s lesson is simple: There is basically only one thing we can take with us to heaven. Love.
Remember the rich man who figured out how to smuggle six suitcases of gold into heaven? St. Peter looked at all this gold at the pearly gates and said, “Pavement? Why’d you bring pavement to heaven?”
Yes, the things of this earth will pass away -- and even if we could bring some of it with us, it’d be totally eclipsed by the glory we encounter in heaven.
Therefore, the “things” that endure -- the things transportable from earth to heaven -- are not “things.”
At the end of 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul says, “13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three ...”
Yes, a first ”thing” will abide. We can take our “faith” with us to heaven. And yet our “faith” -- our confidence in things we cannot see -- will be eclipsed with a face to face encounter with God and the Lamb. Indeed, as we sing in the old hymn, “When Peace Like a River” -- “And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.”
Yes, a second ”thing” will abide. We can take our “hope” with us to heaven. But since hope looks forward to things to come, when we stand in that future in the gleaming light from the throne, we won’t need hope because it’s now been fulfilled by reality.
Therefore, the final and ultimate thing that will abide is love, “and the greatest of these is love.” Indeed, “love never ends.” Faith will be replace by something greater -- sight. Hope will be replaced by something greater -- reality. But love won’t be replace. It will simply grow and grow and grow as we stand in the presence of the one who is pure love.
Therefore, our greatest call on earth is not to accumulate “things” which moth and rust will consume. It’s to accumulate more and more love. It’s to practice more and more love. It’s to break down barriers with more and more love.
And that’s why God gave us marriage and family! To practice!
He wants us ultimately to love the one we cannot see -- heart, soul, strength, and mind. That’s the purpose of our eternal existence: to glorify the creator.
And he gives us people we can see, touch, and forgive to practice on.
Question: Your marriage is a training ground for heaven. Do you view it as that?
Memorization: Last day. You’ve been at this for a while! Can you do it? Just try reciting it. If you’re not quite there, read it aloud and then try reciting it again. (Repeat until you’re satisfied.)
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who wants to smuggle
something into heaven --
the people I love
(therefore, I better make sure
they know of God and his love)
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