Thursday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13
13 And now faith, hope, charity, these three remain; but the greatest of these is charity.
Devotion:
When you enquire about going on holiday one of the things that you may want to find out is how the local people will treat visitors because the last thing you may want to do is to go on holiday in a place where you will be hated! The Corinthians prided themselves in their charity towards others and Christ would have us to pride ourselves in our charity too. How each one of us will think of our love or charity towards others will depend on us because we do each have a different notion of what we should be doing. As we grow older we gain more insight into how much we can affect others by showing them our compassion; but our view is always limited by our experience here on earth. It is hard for us to know anything outside of what we have learned and that is why we have very differing views of compassion towards others.
When we get to heaven we are going to be able to see just what true compassion, love and charity are. We are limited to what we know here and we can already see the difference that it makes here – so much more then when we get to heaven. The writer compares this difference as the difference we realise between being a child and being an adult but that is only because we cannot grasp just how different things will be for us in heaven! We will no longer be limited by our earthly thoughts and experiences.
How big a difference we can make whilst we are here on earth by showing others the love and compassion that God has already shown us through His mercy and grace. We have begun to know just how much more there is to love by what Christ has done for us and what He continues to do for us. If we can impart just a little of that onto others by allowing them to see what God does for us, then they too can be encouraged to find out more about God. It’s not all about how much God can do for us, but how much we can do for God to those around us. God wants to be able to use us to reach others and in order for that to happen we have to be open and willing to do His will by showing others charity, love and compassion.
Points to Ponder:
Do you doing things for others?
Do you like doing things for God?
