back on the stage, grabbed a drumstick, and then pulled up a cymbal and stand to
the left of my table. I paused for a moment. Then, still teaching my mes- sage
on love, I abruptly changed my words into rude and cruel remarks, crashing the
drumstick onto the cymbal while continuing as if nothing were happening.
“My opinion on immigration is . . .” *crashing cymbals*
“My
opinion on politics is . . .” *crashing cymbals*
“My opinion on marriage is .
. .” *crashing cymbals*
“My opinion on abortion is . . .” *crashing
cymbals*
When I stepped out from behind the cymbal stand, I asked if
everyone had heard everything I had said in the last few minutes. Some of them
laughed. Some of them said, “Amen.” Some of them still had their hands over
their ears in case I smacked the cymbal again. They’d gotten the
point.
If we aren’t speaking in love, nobody is going to hear what we are
saying, no matter how truthful or important it might be. They’re not going to
listen to us or respect us. And yes, our world is certainly full of crashing
cymbals, many of whom don’t know God’s love, so the urge to act this way makes
sense. But many of us who call ourselves Christians fall into the trap of
sharing our opinions in a way that is unloving.
We can’t love others
without the love of God. The love of God is kind and compassionate. No matter
how deep or truthful we may think our words are, if we’re speaking and acting
without love, no one can hear us. Anything said without love isn’t worth saying
at all. Anything done with- out love isn’t worth doing at all. And you can
imagine what it must feel like for those being criticized by people who think
they are doing so in “love,” when really it’s just out of a misplaced sense of
pride or superiority or judgment. Those being criticized hear nothing but the
crashing of cymbals. But the moment love enters the picture, the clanging stops.
Our voices become clear. Our words become valuable again.
Paul
continued:
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all
of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that
I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave
everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about
it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
1 Corinthians
13:2-3
Without love, nothing matters — not speaking in tongues or
having the gift of prophecy or possessing all knowledge or even having faith
that could move mountains. We could know all sorts of things about God, listen
to all the sermons we can get our hands on, write books, be the best worship
leader or teacher or preacher — but if we do any of those things without love,
nothing matters. It’s all a waste of time.
It’s possible to act
spiritually and say you follow God but be nothing more than a fake, a Pharisee,
a love-heretic. God sees people doing it daily.
Without love, we can’t
fulfill God’s calling for our lives. Without love, we can’t engage in the
relationship that God yearns for. And without love, we can’t truly reflect God’s
image at all. Try to think of a single person who is doing incredible things for
the Kingdom of God without the love of God. That person doesn’t exist. Life
without the love of God will let you down and lead you in the wrong direction.
We were meant for a life empowered by love, in which God’s love affects every
little thing we do.
Paul continued his love chorus, showing us
exactly what this kind of love is supposed to look like — and what it doesn’t
look like.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or
boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable,
and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but
rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is
always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special
knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is
partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the
whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will
become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as
a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things
imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see
everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete,
but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-12
Love is patience and kindness — no jealousy
or boasting or rudeness or selfishness. Anything that keeps a record of wrongs
or rejoices at injustice is not love. Love is said to endure every circumstance
that life throws its way. If we plan on living a life of love, this is how we’re
supposed to live.
I’ve always wondered about that last part of this group
of verses. The spot where Paul said, “Three things will last forever — faith,
hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love” (verse 13). What does it
mean that love is greater than faith or hope? Consider this: Love encapsulates
faith and hope. Faith and hope make up the DNA of love.
“The greatest of
these is love” because the greatest of these is God — and God is love. God is
the essence of love itself.
[written by Jarrid Wilson]
