Last week we looked at the first part of 1 Corinthians 13, through the lens of a parent. This is the passage most read at weddings, but God meant this to be a model for how we all are to love others. This includes the love of a parent to a child.
Now lets look at the second part of 1 Corinthians 13 to see how we can apply it to loving our children.
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. 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NLT
God says that prophesying, speaking in tongues, and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever. So a parent’s love to a child will last forever!
Our knowledge is partial and incomplete, so we can’t expect to be a perfect parent. We will make mistakes, and we will fall short of God’s perfect example. The key is to admit to our children when we have made mistakes, and seek their forgiveness. In doing so, we will be the example for them to follow, and they will then admit their faults to us and others, and seek forgiveness when they have wronged others.
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. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NLT
Sometimes as parents, we forget that we were once young children, making the same mistakes our kids are making today. As we grew, we matured, and so will our children. We just have to be patient; guiding and loving them along the way.
Someday very soon, our knowledge will be made complete. When Jesus comes back, all things will be made new. Praise God! Our job as parents is to prepare ourselves, and our children, for that day.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT
God couldn’t be more clear as to what will last forever. Faith, hope and love are the only things that will last. Nothing else we do, say, accomplish or accumulate will last, so we should invest in these things; especially love.
