Verse
of the day: 1 Corinthians 13:1 Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
1 John 4:8 tells us that God is
love. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave us His only
begotten Son. In Luke 10:27, Jesus tells us to love God with all that we are
and our neighbor as ourselves. So…do you think that God sees love as being
important in the life of a born again believer? These are just a few verses
found in God’s Word about love. I would venture to say that love is of utmost
importance to God. It was His love for us that sent His Son, our Lord and Savior,
to die for us. It is His love for us that keeps Him from withdrawing His mercy
and grace from us, even though we deserve eternal condemnation. His love for us
is not merely spoken words, but actions taken that fulfilled a need; actions
that resulted in accomplishing something for us that we could never accomplish
on our own. This is the kind of love that He not only demonstrated toward us,
but now commands us to love one another in the same manner. John 13:34-35
begins with these words, “A new commandment I give you…” He did not give a
suggestion, it was a command. That command was to love one another, even as He
has loved us. Why? So that the world would know that we belong to Him. 1
Corinthians 13 is the “love” chapter. It outlines for us what love looks like
in action. Sadly, too many Christians put more emphasis, and focus more, on
what their talents and abilities are than practicing how to love others. In the
first few verses of this chapter the Apostle Paul begins by stressing the fact
that without love, not much else is of great profit for us in our service to
God. If we speak with the tongue of men and of angel, yet we do not love, all
we are doing is making a bunch of noise as far as God is concerned. Verses 2
and 3 tells us that even if we have the gift of prophecy, can interpret the
Word of God, and have the kind of faith that moves mountains, we are nothing
before God. If we give all we have, feed the poor, and give ourselves to
martyrdom, yet we do not love, we have gained nothing as far as God is
concerned. Too many Christians lack love, and take a mean-spirited and
sometimes arrogant approach to how they carry out their Christianity. This
often makes them unapproachable, and it completely contrary to what we see of
Jesus in the New Testament. We must not mistake of equating being serious and
putting on pious front as meaning that we are more mature and spiritual in our
walk with the Lord. As a matter of fact, when we read the Word of God and see
how Jesus interacted with people in general, especially children, we see love
and humility. Jesus loved us so much, that people felt that they could bring
their children to Him, and the children themselves did not feel threatened in
any way. Mark 10:13-16 is a great example of this. While the disciple rebuked
those that brought the children to Jesus, Jesus became very displeased with
them and rebuked them for hindering the children from coming to Him. He took
the children into His arms and blessed them. The bottom line is that our love
for others should be so great that people, including children, would not be
intimidated in coming to us. It does not matter how much we think we can do for
God with our talent, abilities, and opportunities. If we do not love God and
others, we essentially become useless for God’s purposes, and it is of
absolutely no profit to us.
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