I Gave Up Childish Ways

“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

So, what is this love this is speaking of? The Greek word for it is agapé, and it means to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to God and to his New Covenant commandments. It is a love which centers in moral preference, and for us who believe in Christ, it is to prefer to live through Christ, to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. It is to live holy lives pleasing to him, and to be those who are not living in sin.

This love will never end because God is love, and this love comes from God, and God will never end. But the gifts of the Spirit will one day come to an end, for they will no longer be necessary, because then we who are the Lord’s faithful ones will be with him for eternity. But while we are still living on the earth, the Lord has gifted his church with spiritual gifts for the encouragement and edification and strengthening of the body in our walks of faith and in our walks of holiness and in obedience to our Lord.

But gifts of the Spirit lacking in love would seem to me that they are not being operated in the Spirit, for the Spirit is God, and God is love. So the exercise of the gifts has to be coupled with love, the love spoken of here at the beginning of this writing.

Now there are differences of thought over what this next part teaches, so I am going to share what I believe it is saying. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” What I believe this is saying is that we, as humans, don’t know everything there is to know. We know only what the Scriptures teach us and what the Holy Spirit reveals to us, but we don’t know it all. There are a lot of passages of Scripture that I still have difficulty understanding, and some of that could be because of how it was translated. 

Then, “But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.” “The Perfect,” I believe, is Jesus Christ. When Jesus returns for his faithful bride, who have walked with him in obedience and in his righteousness, and we go to be with him for eternity, then we will be able to see and to understand the things that we only partially know and understand now. We will be able to understand why God allowed the things and the people and the situations in our lives, and we will be able to see the purpose in it all.

Then, “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.” This, to me, seems like an odd place to put these words. But the subject is love, and it is about loving one another, and those who love like this have to be those who are no longer living childishly in self-indulgence and selfishness. For those who have not given up childish ways are not capable of loving with this kind of love because they are self-absorbed and want their own way.

And that is why we have so many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are still living for the flesh, still engaged in deliberate and habitual sin, still doing what they want to do regardless of who gets hurt in the process. For they never grew up. They never matured. They never learned to give up childish ways because they want to hold on to their childish ways. And there are a bunch of them when you consider the huge situation we have presently in the church where sexual immorality is running rampant.

So, if you are going to love others with this love you have to give up childish ways, and you have to start growing to maturity, putting those childish ways behind you. For what did Jesus say? He said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we put those childish ways behind us, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience, then we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Walking in The Light  

An Original Work / November 16, 2011

Based off 1 John 1-2

When I lift up my voice, and

Sing praise unto God,

I will fellowship with my

Lord and Savior, King.

In Him there is no darkness.

He is in the light of truth.

If we walk in His light,

From sin He purifies. 

If we repent of our sins,

He’ll forgive us now,

When we humble ourselves, and

Before Jesus bow.

The man who says, “I know Him,”

But does not obey His truth,

There is no truth in him.

In darkness still he’s found.

Do not love the world of sin,

For it is hell bound.

If you follow the world, you’ll

Not in Christ be found.

The world and its desires 

Will not last; they’ll expire.

The one who does God’s will,

Receives eternal life.

See that what you have heard from

Christ remains in you.

Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and

In His Father, too.

This is what He promised us –

His eternal life with God.

So, continue in Him, and

You’ll receive a crown.

https://vimeo.com/114160122