'Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.'
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 ESV
'The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. '
Psalm 34:18 ESV
1 Corinthians chapter 13 is perhaps one of the most quoted scriptures in all of the Bible. It is recited most often at weddings and used as a reference for the love of a husband and wife. This is rather an unfortunate misuse, for the chapter is far greater. The word used for “love” in the Greek is not the one used to signify the love of a married couple. The word used in this passage is ἀγάπη, a curious word, as it has no true translation into the English language. It is a word that describes an unconditional, sacrificial, overwhelming love; it is a word used in the New Testament to describe the love God has for us.
And this love is not truly found in a celebration. It is found in the hands that feed the hungry; it is found in the arms that embrace the orphan; it is found in the words that comfort the mourning; it is found in the one who breaks an addiction....
We must remember this: that the love of God is found in the darkest of places—it is a love that persists at rock bottom, the whisper we hear in the wilderness; it is the fourth man we find in the midst of our fire. God’s love waits in the darkness, that it may be someone’s light.
So, today, ask Him: “How can I be a light?”