"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 [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)."
Spiritual performance can exist without love. You can speak a heavenly language, have all your theology in line, see heavenly realities, move mountains with your faith, die for Jesus, give up everything in this life for others, and still not have the capacity to love. We can miss the essence of God and fail to become who we are created to be, for we were made to be loved and to love.
Love is practical, it is deep, it is the capacity to view life from God's perspective. When we see people, circumstances, and situations form His heart our actions follow. Love infuses our very being, when we love we view people differently, our expectancy for life changes, and the way we handle relationships and situations are completely re-wired. Love is practical.
1 Corinthians 13 reveals the practical side of love; not only How God treats us, but how we begin to interact in this world when we have been captivated by His love. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Love isn't something you can conjure up, you cannot will power your way to a place of loving others. You can moderate your behavior, but you cannot change your own heart.
Jesus is the revelation of the Fathers' love for us. When we see Him, we see love on display. But intellectually grasping it isn't enough, we need to experience the love of God; it is the only way that we have the capacity to love in response. Holy Spirit comes to verify that love, and to interact with us so that we can practically experience the love of God. May He fill you with the love of God today.
As we grow in the reality of God's love for us, we are ever increasingly changed into His likeness, being transformed by love. Love then becomes our essence as well as His (1 John 4:8), and our lives take on His character and qualities.
Over the next few weeks I will write briefly on each statement in 1 Corinthians 13:4-13. I want to comprehend how the love of God finds its' expression in human life, and how beholding Jesus changes the way we view everything!
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds (Romans 12:2)."
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