The Way of Love
If
I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a
clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all
knowledge;
if I have all faith so as
to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over
so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, [love]
is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood
over injury,
it does not rejoice over
wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will
cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and
we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used
to talks as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
When I became a man, I put
aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially; then I shall know fully,
as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these
is "love"
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13