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I may speak many languages, human and angelic, but if I can't lovingly listen, I am no more than a gonging bell or a crashing cymbal.

I may talk about God's word, understanding all its mysteries and knowledge, but if I can't lovingly listen, I am nothing.

I may have big things happen because of my faith, but if I can't lovingly listen, the rest doesn't matter.

I may give to charities everything I own, but if I can't lovingly listen, it brings me no good.

I may even be an organ donor, but if I can't lovingly listen, there is no merit in it.

Listening love waits in kindness. Listening love refuses to envy, boast, or seek attention.

Listening love behaves without acting out, without selfishness, without holding grudges or suspicions.

Listening love is not happy in evil but in honesty. Listening love can handle anything, always believing, hoping, waiting.

Listening love never fails. Talking about God's word has its limits. Speaking many languages can go only so far. Knowledge changes every year or so.

Having knowledge and talking about it is only part of the picture. When the picture is completed the partial picture disappears.

When I was a child I talked, saw, and thought, like a child. When I became an adult, I let go of the childish ways.

We see now as if in a dirty mirror, but someday we will see face to face. Now I know you only partially, but then I will know you as God knows me.

In the end, then, there are three things left, faith, hope, and listening love,—and the greatest of these is listening love.