I
looked in the mirror today and thought: Wow, how I have changed.
Then, I realized that I have been constantly changing- just like the
man in the photo. But, some things have not changed; things on the
inside. I still think and feel (and sometimes act) like I did decades
ago. Yet, I know that this too will eventually change. The 13th
chapter of 1st Corinthians taught me this...
1 Corinthians 13
( World English
Bible )
1Co 13:1, If I
speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love,
I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2, If I
have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have
love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3, If I
dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be
burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
1Co 13:4, Love
is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is
not proud,
1Co 13:5,
doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way,
is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
1Co 13:6,
doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
1Co 13:7, bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things.
1Co 13:8, Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away
with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there
is knowledge, it will be done away with.
1Co 13:9, For we
know in part, and we prophesy in part;
1Co 13:10, but
when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will
be done away with.
1Co 13:11,
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought
as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish
things.
1Co 13:12,
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also
fully known.
1Co
13:13, But now faith, hope,
and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
(emphasis
added)
There
is one more picture that should be added to that one showing the
stages of life. It is a picture of what this person will look like as
a resurrected being. I have no idea exactly what it will look
like, but I do know from other Scriptures that it will be
recognizable. How old will we appear in our resurrected bodies? Good
question; I just plainly do not know. Since some people only knew us
at different stages of our lives, so perhaps we will look different
to different people? So, will there be a constant identifier for
everyone to recognize us? My answer is a resounding “YES”- LOVE!
Message
to self: Love more, for all the right reasons, because it is the
only thing that will really endure.