The Best is Yet to Come, 1 Cor.13:9-13

Read 1 Corinthians 1:8-13 

Yesterday we stopped with Joyce's folks to see a B.C. wonder.  Takakkaw Fall can be seen by taking a side road near Field B.C.  It is 294m of spraying water wonder!  As all of us would be, they were struck with awe, taking pictures right away from near the car. It took a lot of convincing to get them to leave the sight they were seeing to see what was yet to come.  By walking a couple hundred meters you can enjoy the sight (and get wet) from near the base of the fall.

The Corinthian Christians were awestruck over the spiritual gifts they had been given by the Holy Spirit and perhaps got a little over zealous with the apparent wonder and perhaps power they felt was theirs. This consequently brought Paul's corrective teaching in this passage as well as those preceding and following the passage.

It seems to me from reading 1 Cor.13:8-13 we need to recognize that Paul is saying that the proper use of spiritual gifts in the church will give us a taste of heaven.  Reread these verses.  Perhaps Paul's referring to these gifts as 'passing away' has more to do with the fact that in heaven what we will see in relation to godly character is the degree of love that is there. Love is the only gift that never fails or ceases.

The emphasis on their passing away (the gifts) has more to do with their limited use in the church prior to Christ's coming than anything else.  But their proper use brings great joy and blessing- 'a little bit of heaven.'  "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes , the partial will pass away."  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."  Just as we had to walk further to see and feel the full beauty of the falls.

We are "fully known" because God has known us from before the foundation of the world, yet our visual understanding of our salvation, of Jesus, and the Father are limited to what we see in His word, and I dare say in the church.  It is no wonder that the writer of Hebrews encouraged the meeting together of the saints. Hebrews 10:23-25  

Pastor Paul