Most people believe that they already understand Love so they move on to some other aspect of Spiritual study. Nothing could be further from reality. How do I come to this conclusion? I only need to be a fruit inspector, nothing else. There is no need to judge anyone’s heart… that, I cannot do. However, I can and should judge fruit.
The current economic, political, and religious systems are all in upheaval. Man’s attempt to be in charge is found lacking on all fronts. In these systems, can we see anything or anyone perfected? Not in any way, shape, or form. On the contrary! Knowledge isn’t the issue for it is doubling in content every few months. Skill in itself isn’t the issue. Skill sets of people are being developed like never before. Wisdom and understanding are the issue. The lack of wisdom from Above has caused the current system to move further away from perfection and spiritual maturity, not closer. Greed and entitlement prevail in the lives of those in power and authority.
The Apostle Paul gives us sixteen attributes of Love in 1 Corinthians 13 but he does not stop with this revelation. He continues:
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
What is perfect? Love. When the fullness of Love comes, Paul lists some things that will either fail, cease, or vanish away (become useless):
Prophecies (fail)
Tongues (cease)
Knowledge (become useless)
People love the prophetic. Anticipation excites the soul and there is the “thrill of the unknown”. When the fullness of Love arrives, prophecies are no longer needed or are necessary. The prophecies of the Old Testament centered around the arrival of Jesus Christ. The future became “Now” so there was no longer the need to focus on future events. What did Paul mean when he said prophecies would fail? The word fail is the Greek word katargeō. It means:
1) to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative
a) to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency
b) to deprive of force, influence, power
2) to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish
a) to cease, to pass away, be done away
b) to be severed from, separated from, discharged from, loosed from any one
c) to terminate all intercourse with one
Thus when the fullness of Love arrives, there is no longer any need for prophecies, speaking in Tongues, or useless knowledge. Love satisfies the needs that those three aspects of our walk dealt with and were focused on. Does this challenge the validity of of those three? Absolutely not! Each stage of maturity requires us to experience those things that bring us forth into the fullness of Christ. But when we finally understand what the prize is, shouldn’t we turn our attention and focus on it? If we understand that prophecies, Tongues, and knowledge are all temporary, shouldn’t we focus on the one thing that is permanent, fulfilling, and completes us?
Have you arrived to full maturity as a son of the Most High GOD? Check your fruit.
Until we walk in the fullness of Love, Paul explains, “for in part we know, and in part we prophecy”. He then makes a critical statement, “When that which is perfect comes, then that which is in part shall become useless”. Do you want the full package or are you satisfied with the incomplete, partial, soon to be unemployed aspects of life?
That question demands an answer! You are not accountable to me, you are accountable to Our Heavenly Father WHO gave Paul those words to write. Wisdom is the willingness to receive instruction and/or correction which challenges your current understanding, belief, knowledge, and/or skill. How many of us have a revelation now that supersedes the understanding we had ten years ago? Hopefully all of us.
Paul uses the example of a child to contrast the “partial” to the “fullness”- “When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe”. Prophecies, Tongues, and Knowledge were all necessary for the maturing of the Saints. Once the maturing moves to the fullness of the revelation of Love, those training tools are no longer required or needed. Until 2005, I was to focused on those three things that Paul mentioned. But as Our Heavenly Father told me in 1997, the year of 2005 was going to bring something notable. It was that year HE told me to focus on getting the full revelation of Love.
If you knew that the solution to all of your problems was hidden in a field, wouldn’t you sell all you had to purchase that field and obtain the solution? Absolutely! Now you see why my focus and attention have shifted to the most precious aspect of Our Heavenly Father’s character- Love. Selah!