Sweet Sixteen...God's Love Number

When I was doing some biblical research on the number sixteen, I found that it could symbolize a firm foundation of righteousness; established beginnings; a free-spirit as in no limits, boundaries or law, but the one that stumped me was love. The scriptural reference was 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Many refer to this as the “Love Chapter”, but how could sixteen represent love? I tracked it down in my Bible app and began reading, stopped and began again. This time, counting the listed characteristics of love, and there were sixteen. A nice piece of Bible trivia to tuck away.

Later in the evening I was sharing with a friend about what I had discovered about the number sixteen and the 1 Corinthians 13 Love list. I read it aloud, but then a shift happened. I stopped and read it again but this time I substituted “God” for the word love. Beyond all doubt, I know that it was a Holy Spirit-shifting. The verses below reverberated in our spirits. 
 
The Sweet Sixteen
(based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, New International Version)
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A4-8&version=NIV
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​God is patient.
God is kind.
God does not envy. He does not boast. He is not proud.
God is not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong-doings.
God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God never fails.
 
This is God presenting His character reference to us. This is how He wants us to see Him, and not continue to believe the fake news that the world has created about Him.
Could you begin to trust and place your faith in God after reading this list?
Does that last sentence lock down a finality in your heart about His faithfulness towards you?
Wouldn’t you want to go through life with a partner who has these credentials?
Do you know anyone who can demonstrate The Sweet Sixteen 24/7?
There is no one on this earth who can but there is only One who can—God Almighty.
​He is willing and well-able to be all of the Sweet Sixteen in your life because God is the Right Kind and the Only Kind of Lover for you and me.