Vazquez Counseling

1 Corinthians 13 says the following:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (New King James Version)

This passage of Scripture is often read at marriage ceremonies. In fact, I’ve read it myself at several weddings. Each time, I wonder if it’s the wisest decision to have it read at those events. I look at the Groom and the Bride, and I want to ask them, can you truly live up to the words in this passage? The answer of course, is a resounding, No! But that’s not why we read this chapter in 1 Corinthians at weddings. I don’t think any of us expect to meet the ideals about love that the Apostle Paul described.

This passage is actually a description of the love of Christ. Try something. Go back and re-read 1 Corinthians 13 and where you see the word love, substitute the Name of Jesus. Awesome, right? This passage describes in an exquisite way the love that God has for His people. And that’s why we read it at weddings. Those of us who follow Jesus need to have the love of God at the very heart of our marriages.