‘If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13(NLT)
Read: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Any gift we give to another means nothing unless it is a symbol of the gift of ourselves. Any gift without love—whether it be an obligatory gift, a guilt gift, or an impressing gift—is just an illusion. Yet when a gift is a real expression of our love for another, it makes the gift more valuable than any amount of money could buy.
Paul speaks about some of the gifts that God’s Spirit gives to individuals in the church: the gifts of eloquent speech, skilled preaching, intellectual knowledge, heroic faith, generous almsgiving, and even martyrdom (vv. 1-3). Although all of these are capable of making important contributions to the community, they are useless if they are used to glorify oneself, impress others, or any other reason than giving oneself to the community in love. Even the most wonderful gifts, if given selfishly, are not really gifts at all.
Paul lists fifteen characteristics of real love that we could use to test the genuineness of our love for others (vv. 4-7). This love is never focused on our own wants but is always longing for what is best for others. If we are possessive and clinging, our relationships become jealous and conceited. True love doesn’t brood over the past but forgives mistakes. Always seeking the truth, love tells others what they need to hear and is able to receive helpful criticism.
Whatever we give or receive as a gift is always temporary and incomplete. Even the gifts of the Spirit are fleeting. The only thing that lasts is the love within the gift. Love alone is eternal. When all the gifts of this world corrode, only the love within the gift remains.
REFLECT: How can I make my gifts more valuable for others?
PRAY: O God, who has given us only one life that soon will pass, help me to realize that only what’s done for Christ, only what’s done with love will last.
from Into The Breach – How A Christian Man Loves