ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST FOREVER?

SCRIPTURE:
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. 
(1 Corinthians 13:8)

MEDITATION:
We live in a world where nothing lasts forever.
Houses deteriorate as the years pass.
Automobiles must be replaced after accumulating a certain number of miles.
Clothes become tattered, or out of style and need to be replaced.
Even our bodies are in the process of dying from the time we are born.

The scriptures tell us that prophecies will stop
(either because they were fulfilled, or unfulfilled).
After the rapture, the many different languages will 
be melded into one synchronized in praising the Lord along with the angels.
 
God has given each of us the opportunity to gain knowledge 
throughout our life on earth, but when we are raptured, we will no longer 
chase after knowledge, because we will be with the Lord, Himself.
Time spent on gaining knowledge will be replaced 
by spending time praising the Lord, the all-knowing and omnipotent One.

However, the scriptures tell us that love never fails.
It makes sense doesn’t it?
God loves us now, 
and His love for us will continue when He takes us to our heavenly home.
But we have to assume there is even more about the topic of love.
If we become loving individuals as we live now, 
we will continue loving in heaven.

The scriptures tell us often (and demands) 
that we nourish love in our hearts.
The major essential for a happy Christian home is love.
Love is the cohesive force that holds the family together. 
True love contains an element of spiritual mystery. 
It encompasses loyalty, reverence, and understanding.

Love imposes a tremendous responsibility on all members of a family, 
but it is a responsibility accompanied by great rewards. 
The Bible tells us how much Jesus loved the church.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25)
Jesus loved the church in spite of its faults, 
its mistakes, and its weaknesses.

When we are told to have the love of Christ in our hearts, 
that is exactly what we are being instructed to do.
We are to love others in spite of their faults, mistakes, weaknesses, 
personality defects, physical blemishes, mental quirks, 
emotional outbursts, illnesses, sins, etc.
 
True love does not fail (that’s what God’s Word says). 
Love is deep, abiding, and eternal. 
Nothing can bring a greater sense of security into the home 
like true love can.

ACTION:
Are you actively pursuing the kind of love Jesus had for the church?
As you go through life, others will disappointment you, hurt your feelings, 
etc. but you should not allow Satan to use these events to crush your love 
for them. 
 
Look inwardly and not outwardly.
You disappoint the Lord as much as any other person, 
but He still loves you both.
It is too easy for you to overlook your own faults, 
when you are preoccupied with looking at (or for) the faults in others.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for having a never ending love for me and 
everyone else. Forgive me for looking at the faults and failures in others 
while ignoring my own. Remind me that no matter how others disappoint 
me, I am not better than they are. Teach me how to develop and show the 
love of Christ in my own life. Help me to rise above any and all 
disappointments in others, and keep loving them just as You keep loving me. 
Show me how to exercise my love through encouraging and lifting the spirits 
of others. Help me today, to listen, to love and care for others with a 
heart that is made sensitive by You, Jesus.”