1 Corinthians 13
I may be able to speak the languages of men
and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a
noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired
preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may
have all the faith needed to move mountains...but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body
to be burnt...but if I have no love, this does me no good.
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;
love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a
record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the
truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never
fail.
Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary;
there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease;
there is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of
inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then
what is partial will disappear.
When I was child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were those of a
child; now that I am a man, I have no more use for childish ways. What
we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face to
face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete...as
complete as God's knowledge of me.
Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest
of these is love.