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1 You see, we can have power from God, but if we don’t love people, we are nothing. Suppose we talk in the languages of other people and even talk in the languages of angels, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless. We will only be making a noise, like somebody banging a drum or hitting a bell.
2 Suppose we tell people God’s messages, and suppose we know God’s secrets and understand all about everything, and suppose we trust God so strongly that we can get him to move mountains, but if we don’t love other people, we are nothing.
3 Suppose we give everything that we have to poor people, and suppose we stay strong for Jesus, even if somebody burns our bodies so that we die, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless.
4 If we love people, we will be good to them, and we will not get angry with people that give us trouble. If we love people, we will not be jealous of them. If we love people, we will not reckon we are better than they are, and we will not think we are really good when we are not good.
5 If we love people, we will not be rude to them or shame them. If we love people, we will think about what they want, not just what we want for ourselves. If we love people, we will not get angry with them quickly, and we will not keep on remembering the bad things they did to us.
6 If we love people, we will not be happy if they do things that are wrong, but we will be happy if they do things that are right and true.
7 If we love people properly, we will keep on loving them, no matter what happens. If we love people, we will keep on believing good things about them, and we will keep on hoping good things for them, and even if we are getting trouble, we will not give up.
8 You know, I talked to you already about the special power that God gives to his people, and now I’m telling you that one day we will stop using that special power. But we can’t stop loving people. If you love somebody properly, you will always love them. But the time will come when God will not need to give us special power any more. When that time comes, God will not tell people his special messages, and God will not get people to talk in special languages, and God will not let people know special things.
9 You see, now we only know a little bit, and the special messages that we get from God only tell us a little bit.
10 Right now we only have a little bit of what God wants to give to us. But the time will come when he will let us understand everything properly. Then we will not worry about the little bits any more.
11 I’ll use a picture story about myself to show you what I mean. When I was a little kid I talked like a little kid, and I thought about things the way a little kid thinks about things. I only understood what a little kid can understand. But then I grew up, and now I’m a man, and I’ve stopped thinking like a little kid.
12 This is what that story means. Now we only understand a little bit. It is like we are looking at things in a dark mirror now. But the time will come when everything will be clear to us, like we are looking straight at them, not in a mirror. Right now we only know a little bit, but at that time we will know everything properly, just like God knows us properly.
13 So I’m saying there are 3 important things for us to keep on doing.
– We have to keep on believing in God.
– We have to keep on knowing for sure that God will be good to us.
– We have to keep on loving God and people.
We have to keep on doing those 3 things, and the most important one is this,
– We have to keep on loving God and people.