Miraculous prophecies, speaking in tongues, and knowledge weren’t meant to last forever. As Paul explained to the Corinthians, there would come a time when those manifestations of the Spirit “passed away” (cf. 1 Cor. 13:8-10). Such signs and wonders were an important way the Spirit powerfully worked in Christianity’s earliest decades, but they were not the only way. While it was good the Corinthians earnestly desired those gifts, the “more excellent way” of faith, hope, and especially love would be what ultimately endured (cf. 1 Cor. 12:28, 13:13-14:1).
That was an important change in perspective for the Corinthians, who had been quarrelling over their gifts. Something good God gave them had become a source of division and confusion, revealing their own spiritual immaturity. It was time for them to grow up. “When I was child,” Paul wrote, “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” (1 Cor. 13:11). As life progresses, change happens. Our speaking, thinking, reasoning, and behavior matures. It’s not that reading picture books or playing with blocks is bad: they help us develop. Yet as they fulfill their purpose, we should eventually outgrow them – and certainly not be fighting over them! The same was true for the Corinthians’ spiritual gifts – and ours.
While our assemblies are unlikely to be disrupted by multiple tongue speakers addressing us at once, we can still struggle with growing up, too. There are times when God gives us gifts – good things like Vacation Bible Schools, bus ministries, door knocking campaigns, or Jule Miller filmstrip Bible studies – that build up the church. Then change happens. Specific gifts pass away with waning interest or declining results – which can be hard for us to accept. We wish we could just go back to what we did before, maybe even to the point of resisting other gifts the Spirit might work through. Yet, if we truly pursue love and what builds up, we will grow into new ways of speaking, thinking, and reasoning. We will change.
Things we take for granted today like Sunday schools, church buildings, and even tax-deductible contributions are really just gifts. We may have them for a time, but they are neither guaranteed nor required for us to live in the faith, hope, and love of Christ. Like a child can’t fathom the joys and challenges of adulthood, it is hard for us to imagine not having a church website or social media presence. Yet, should those gifts pass away, the more excellent way of Christ-like love will still never end. Like the Corinthians, we should use whatever gifts God has given us right now to build up the church. Things will change, and that’s okay: we are pursuing love.