If I speak in the tongues of men and of angles, but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the
gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowlege, and
if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. If I give all I posess to the poor and surrender my body
to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is
knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disapears. When I
was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the childish ways
behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we
shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know
fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith,
hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1st Corinthians 13:1-13