Love Gets the Last Word

Date: Friday, October 9, 2026

Readings: 1 Corinthians 13 | Psalm 84

You’ve probably heard 1 Corinthians 13 at a wedding, which is a bit like hearing a battle cry at a spa. Paul wrote it to a church dazzled by spiritual fireworks, tongues, prophecy, and knowledge, yet bickering, litigating, and keeping score. Yeah, that’s church. But Love, he says, is the whole point. Speak like angels without it and you’re a clanging gong. The chapter is a pastor’s discipline wrapped in poetry, and it describes the character of God Himself: patient, kind, not self-seeking, bearing all things. Read “Jesus” wherever you see “love” and the portrait comes into focus.

In 1969, Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister turned children’s television host, sat before a skeptical Senate subcommittee defending funding for public broadcasting. No flashy graphics. He spoke quietly about helping children know they are loved and capable of managing their feelings. By most accounts, the famously gruff chairman, John Pastore, was won over, and the funding was secured. Gentleness did what volume couldn’t. That’s love that “does not boast, and is not proud” (13:4) in action: strength that doesn’t need to shout.

Paul adds that prophecies will cease and knowledge will pass away, but “now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (13:12). Even our best theology is partial. Even the most compelling sermon is incomplete. Yet here is the comfort: you are already fully known (13:12) and irrocably loved. Faith and hope will eventually give way to sight and opinion and ideology, but love alone goes with us into eternity.

Devotional Prompts:

• Which phrase in Paul’s description of love most exposes where you’re growing, and which most reflects how God treats you?
• What does it mean to you that you are already fully known and still fully loved?

Prayer: Father of mercies, You are love, and we are learning. Loosen our grip on being right and fill us with the patience and kindness of Christ. Until we see You face to face, let love be the language we speak. Amen.