‘If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13(NLT)
‘So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. ‘ Galatians 6:9(NLT)
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. Anytime you thumb through wedding albums, glance at walls filled with family pictures, or scroll through social media, you see smiling faces. If you guessed at what the lives of those smiling people were like, you might assume they’re always happy. Right?
But what about the days, weeks, and months in between those pictures? The “thousand words” a picture represents are filled with joy, peace, and hope, but between those pictures exists the drama, frustration, and sadness every person and relationship experiences. As much as we’d like to hope our relationships would be immune to such obstacles, every kind of relationship faces challenges.
Would you believe those in-between times actually can make our relationships sweeter? It’s the disagreements you’ve walked through that make you appreciate, and maybe even cultivate, times of peace. It’s the caring for a sick friend that makes you thankful for days of health. It’s the account balance approaching the single digits that brings gratitude in times of plenty.
But that’s not all the in-between can do.
The in-between makes room for us to learn how to love with the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13. It’s easy to be patient, kind, selfless, and forgiving when times are good. Yet real love is needed on in-between days when we’d rather be impatient, angry, selfish, and unforgiving. This in-between, 1 Corinthians 13 love doesn’t happen overnight. It comes with all the time and tests between the picture-perfect moments. It comes as we learn to love selflessly, like Jesus.
Is that the sort of love you want in your relationships? Then embrace the in-between, and keep reading to learn about real, biblical relationship goals from 11 very different people.
Pray: God, give me the courage to give and pursue true love in my relationships no matter what they’re up against.
from Relationship Goals