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Have you ever made an investment that didn’t turn out the way you thought it would?  I bet most of us have at one time or another.  The truth is we invest in things all the time.  We invest in people, products, financial institutions, businesses, and the list goes on.  Out of all the investments we make, we want to be absolutely certain that we are investing in that which endures.

Only One Thing

In 1^st Corinthians 13 the apostle Paul points us toward only one thing that is certain to last forever.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² 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.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  1^st Corinthians 13:8 – 13

Everything Has a Shelf-Life

A lot of what we pursue in the Christian world has a shelf-life.  In other words, it’s not going to last beyond a certain point.  Over the last 15 or so years there has been a truckload of material developed on how to grow in prophetic ministry.  As great as that is, prophecy will one day find its fulfillment and no longer be needed.  A lot of time and effort has been invested in proving that speaking in tongues is still valid for today.  A day is coming, however, no one will need to speak in tongues.  And how much do you think has been invested in an effort to increase our knowledge of God and His Word?  Yet all our books, theologies, and charts will one day become obsolete.  When will this happen?

When Perfection Comes

1^st John 3:2 tells us.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

One day Jesus will return and every eye will see Him (Revelation 1:7).  In that moment we will be changed into His likeness (Philippians 3:20 – 21).  When that happens all our our knowledge and prophetic things will shrink into oblivion.  Why would that be?

At their very best our prophecy and theology provides us with only a very limited view of our magnificent God.  Like a child observing life through his limited knowledge and experience, we now have but a dim view of the Lord.  When Jesus returns we will see as we have never seen before, or, as Paul says, we will know as fully as we have been fully known.  At that time everything else that we have counted on will fall be the wayside.

For Now

For right now we still have faith, hope, and love.  On the Day of the King`s return, the faith by which we walk will be turned to sight and no longer needed.  The hope which causes us to wait expectantly for the Lord will be fully realized and fade into the past.  That which endures forever is Love.  Forever and ever love will be the hallmark character trait of all those who are living in the Reign.

M

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.