Devotional : Love Lasts Forever

(A Devotional by Pastor Dishan Wickramaratne, Senior Pastor of the People’s Church (Assembly of God), in Colombo, Sri Lanka).

1 Corinthians 13:13  “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

Paul says it’s going to continue forever.  If you want a legacy to last, if you want people to remember you – love.  Love lasts.  In fact, nothing else does.  I hate to tell you this but people are going to forget all your work.  People are going to forget all your wealth.  People are never remembered for what they earned.  They’re remembered for what they gave away.  They’re remembered for their love.

And I even hate to tell you this, but the truth is one day all your trophies are going to be thrown away.  That Athletic trophy!  That Gold medal!  That report card!  That certificate of accomplishment!  Nobody’s going to remember those things.  I doubt that you have any of the awards that your grandparents got.  Some day people are going to throw away your graduation picture too.  The only thing that is going to last is what you did in love.  1 Corinthians 13:13  “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”  Nothing else you do on this planet is permanent.  You didn’t bring any of it in with you.  You’re not taking any of it out with you.  It’s all very temporary.  All those trophies will be thrown away one day.

The truth is every one of us will eventually learn the basic truth of life – Life is about RELATIONSHIPS not accomplishments.  Everybody’s going to eventually learn it on their deathbed.  When you’re dying you’re going to want people around you who love you, not things.  So we’re all going to figure that out.

In fact, the Bible says life without love is worthless.  It is a wasted life.  The Message translation says this – 1 Corinthians 13:3  “So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”  Bankrupt.

My prayer for you as your friend and your pastor, who loves you – is this:  I want you to learn this today and not when you die.  I want you to learn that what matters most right now are RELATIONSHIPS.

• What matters is do I love God with all my heart?
•  And do I love everybody else like I love myself?