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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 12:31b, 13:1-3
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Throughout chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, we find Paul spending extensive time exhorting the Christians to stay united within the church, realizing that every single member was valuable and gifted by God with specific talents that were to be used for His glory and the common good. Just as the human body was made up of many parts with every part being equally important to the body’s functioning so too was every church member important to the way the church functioned. Within the five devotions centered on this concept of the church being one body made up of many parts, we saw how this expectation of God regarding church operations is still true today.
So that was the main focus of chapter 12 but look at when we find in the very last verse, the second half of verse 31. Paul writes:
“And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
It seems to be a strange approach to ending the chapter, that is until we turn the page and embark on what has been famously been referred to as the “Love Chapter” of the Bible therefore letting us know what the “most excellent way” is.
It’s the way of love.
We will focus on this most excellent way over the next week in a series of devotions which begin today with the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13. Let’s look again at them here:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Remember all the talk about gifts God grants people to do His work through the church?
They included speaking in tongues and prophesies as well as the special ability to discern. Any one of these might make a person seem significant through the eyes of a fellow believers but note that if a person lacks love, their worth drops to zero. This should tell you how valuable love is. It’s the emotion that elevates a person to where the Lord wants them to be.
How important is love in the Lord’s view?
Consider what Jesus said when asked about what the greatest commandment was:
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40
Here Jesus is giving us the sequential nature of love, the most excellent way.
First, we are to love God with all that we are and all that we have, with all our heart and soul and mind. Our total devotion needs to be directed to Him.
Guess what happens when we do that?
We allow God’s love to be our own and when that happens, then and only then can we love our neighbors, all those we encounter in and out of the church, properly. The love of God is the love we extend to others.
Ensuring we have God’s love in our heart will always lead us to the most excellent way and keep us from being just a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. It prevents us from being nothing even though we might have a faith that moves mountains. And it stops us from gaining no benefit from giving sacrificially because we didn’t give out of love for the gift receiver.
The fullest substance and worth in life is only discovered when we love as God loves, when we allow love to be the most excellent way we live.
Tomorrow, we’ll continue to look at the latter of love in part 2 of this series.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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