“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
So before we begin looking at what defines love we need to lay the foundation for the importance of love. Love is a commandment for all of God’s people. We are commanded in Matthew to love God with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. All through the New Testament, especially, we are told to love, even our enemies. Our lives are to be marked by the light of God’s love in every way. But once again, how does that look?
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal… In our speech. Our words can carry such an impact in others’ lives. So much of our human interaction is done through speaking. Speaking is the simplest way for us to express ourselves. We can choose to build up and encourage others, or we can choose to breakdown and destroy. But what do our words say about us? How are we choosing to use our language? Paul is specifically speaking of the gift of tongues, here, the ability to reach others in their native language on a supernatural level. This is a God infused ability to reach another person who would otherwise be deaf to your words. He is saying that even if you were blessed with this powerful gift, given by God Himself and use it without a heart of love, it’s as useless and abrasive as clanging instruments without rhythm. I think about our testimony in particular.
How about the people we find hardest to love? These people are a perfect example of our sounding brass testimony. Think about a person you are in the middle of a conflict with. How do you think they would respond to you if you invited them to church, or tried to talk about God with them, or even shared your testimony with them? Do you think they would take you seriously if you were trying to share the love of God with them all the while displaying a heart of hate? I love the quote that says something to the effect of ‘no one cares about what you have to say, until they know you care.’ It’s so true. Paul is pointing this truth out to us plainly. If we are gifted beyond all measure in our speech, but we don’t come from a genuine foundation of love, it’s all in vain.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing… In knowledge and faith. Knowledge is vital to our walk with God. It directs our path, reveals God to us, brings hope, and improves our ability to love by teaching us how. But we aren’t given this wonderful Gift for our own benefit. We aren’t blessed so we can hoard it for ourselves. And faith is equally important because without faith we cannot be right with God. Without faith we cannot be at peace, we do not believe. Faith enables us to believe the knowledge we gain. It reminds us of the knowledge we have when we are in situations that try us. Paul shows us that we could have the powerful gift of all knowledge and have a faith that can do the impossible, but it is all meaningless without love.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. In giving. If we give all we have, even to the point of giving ourselves to help another without doing it in love it is all in vain. Our sacrifice becomes a waste, something that could have been such a powerful offering to further the kingdom of God becomes a wasted effort. Once again Paul is speaking of a God-given gift of giving and sacrifice. These are very powerful gifts meant to change people’s lives for His kingdom. But if we act on these gifts but do them in a way that has no real love, it profits God’s kingdom nothing.
So I keep speaking about love and the impact of these powerful gifts without a heart of love, but what does that really mean? I was speaking to a friend about my focus on loving those people I have such a hard time with, and she made the comment that she just wanted to minimally get along with them for the time being, but wouldn’t go so far as to love them. I realized in that conversation that the world’s definition of love doesn’t understand the Biblical definition of love. The world seems to believe to love is to feel in love with someone. The Biblical definition of love is far more different. It means to chooses to put another’s well-being and needs before our own regardless of how we feel about them. The person who truly loves, seeks to place others first, but not to the subject of love’s detriment. There is a balance that we will see in the upcoming verses of 1 Corinthians 13. Paul starts us off in these verses by telling us that anything we do apart from a heart of love is fruitless. So we are nothing, we profit nothing without love. This is the great importance of love, it is the one ingredient that makes everything we think, feel, say and do worthwhile.
Thank you for continuing on this journey with me! Join me next week as we begin defining love by looking at the kindness of love. God Bless!
bearingwithlove 