Fourth Sunday after Epiphany: Epistle, 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13         

1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

With just a springboard at the end of chapter 12, our epistle this week is Paul’s “Love Chapter.” And it is huge. Not in length, but in substance. It is a masterpiece. It is Beethoven’s Ninth or the Mona Lisa when it comes to the literature of love. And of course, Paul’s co-Author is the Master Craftsman.

This is no treatise on human love, as wonderful as that can be. No this is, very simply descriptive language. And it points to one, and only one person: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the embodiment of First Corinthians, chapter thirteen.

Read it and ponder. Think and pray. And then let your mind and heart begin to absorb verse 11, especially the second half. “ … but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (12:11b). This is the Christian’s response to what precedes. The mind captivated by the love, the Person of Jesus is forced to choose, every day. Will I remain in the nursery of the world, pushing toy trucks and bouncing balls? Will I wail and whine when my favorites are taken by my toddling neighbor? Will I live inside the perpetual trap of wanting my way, and only my way?

There is an option. Grow up. Put away childish things and grasp for more. And not the grown-up toys of the world which are simply the same toys as a child’s, but with fancier labels and larger price tags. No. Grasp and keep on grasping to grow after the joys, the sorrows, the self-sacrificing treasures of the love of Christ. For you. For the sake of everyone around you.

Grow up, Christian. Grow up.