I am going to show you a far better way

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? ³¹ But earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.

13 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² 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. ³ And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. ⁵ It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, ⁶ it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; ⁷ it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. ⁹ For we know in part and prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Today’s text begins saying: Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.

Yesterday’s text and meditation focused on spiritual gifts, their source and their purpose in the body. Today we will look at the most important gift of the Spirit, love. Love is more than a feeling, more than an emotion, it is also a spiritual gift. So, like the other spiritual gifts, its source is the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:19 says: We love, because He first loved us. Without having received the love of God we cannot truly love. Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our ability to love and our capacity to love is based in the love of God for us, demonstrated in the cross of Christ. His love demonstrated in the natural realm, gave us the gift of love through the Spirit. The text says: If I speak with the tongues of mankind 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 away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

We, in this country, partly due to the inadequacies of the English language, have some misconceptions about love. We use the same word to describe how we feel about our spouses, our families, our pets, our favorite band, or team and our favorite food. Again, love is much more than a feeling or emotion. Additionally, we have allowed the culture to misstate the criteria for love. The world wrongly says that love is demonstrated through tolerance, that we are hypocrites at best and haters at worst if we do not embrace the choices of others. Romans 12:9 says: Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. Today’s text includes one of the most frequently quoted portions of scripture about love. It says: Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.  Our cancel culture would prefer to eliminate the part that says: it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Those who say tolerance is necessary are arrogantly intolerant of anyone who disagrees with their views. Not only does our culture embrace disgraceful actions, they seek to teach and promote them to our children. The world despises righteousness and truth. Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth. Again though, without receiving the love of God, there is no ability or capacity to truly love or even comprehend true love.

One day everyone will acknowledge true love. Philippians 2:10-11 says: At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  In today’s text it says: If there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.  The love and grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.