If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NASB)
When we read the Bible we are reading a love story — God’s love story — His creation of all life; His relationship with man; His forgiveness of man; and the path He made for our ultimate redemption and eternal life with Him. We read in Scripture that God is love; that God loved man so much that He gave His only Son; that nothing can separate us from the love of God….
So why do so many of us have a hard time loving God back or heeding His command to love others? These verses from 1 Corinthians 13 become scary when we realize how useless we are as a part of God’s kingdom when we don’t have love, when we don’t express love, when we don’t share love.
Stop today and reflect on God’s love for you, and the ways He wants you to return that love as you live in community with others. Ask Him to show you where you may be acting or serving in a selfish manner, or living your life carelessly around others.
