“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.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”
{1 Corinthians 13:1-8}
These scriptures have to be one of the hardest scriptures in the Bible for me to swallow because it talks about the importance of having charity – love. And the simple fact, that love never fails.
These scriptures hang a lot of us. Because it’s basically saying that it doesn’t matter how religious you are, even if you go to church all the time, speak in tongues all the time, read your Bible all the time and even pray all the time, if you don’t have love, you have nothing. Actually, it’s saying, you are nothing.
Wild isn’t it? Because you can do all this religious stuff and even do good things, give gifts to people, give your money to the poor and needy, go to wild places to preach the word of God to strange people, but if you don’t have love, you are nothing.
It’s not just saying, “You have nothing.” It’s saying, “You are nothing.” Basically, your life and who you are means nothing, not one iota in God’s eyes, if you don’t have love.
Look at the scripture, it says even if you speak the language of the angels or know all the languages in the world because you’re very smart, if you don’t have love, you’re nothing. Even if you prophesy and understand all the mysteries in the world and have all knowledge, even have great faith that you can remove mountains and bring miraculous things to pass, but if you don’t have love, you’re nothing.
If you can give to the poor and feed them or even have your body burnt at the stake, if you don’t have love, you’re nothing.
Why? Because love suffers long, it is kind and it doesn’t get jealous or get proud or get showy.
Love doesn’t disrespect others and is not self-seeking. It’s not easily angered and it doesn’t delight itself in evil things nor think evil things, but actually rejoices in truth.
Ahem, love is not self-seeking? Are you serious? Really? Really.
Love believes in all things, hopes in all things and most importantly, it endures! Love never fails!
Like I said, these scriptures hang a lot of us, especially me. Sure, love never fails, but I do. So now what? It doesn’t matter how many times you hear someone say, “We must have love because love is of God and God is love”, if you don’t feel love and you weren’t brought up witnessing love being expressed all the time, you’re not going to have love in you.
I don’t care if you pound me on the head with this preaching and preach to me until you’re blue in the face, if I don’t feel love and I was not shown what true love is, I will not have love because I don’t know what love is.
To me true love can only come from God. I think man’s definition of love is inherently selfish. It doesn’t matter even if you are lucky enough to have come from a loving family who love each other until the day they die, we always look out for number one first: the self. The self loves itself first. Therefore it’s not the true meaning of love, because the true meaning of love is God’s love. It is not selfish. It is not self-seeking.
You don’t have to look far for proof of how we are. You don’t have to teach a child to be selfish because he will be selfish. We actually need to be taught to love and give, not the other way around. Being selfish is automatic.
I remember turning five when I was in the Philippines and having my own birthday party. After blowing out the candles on my cake I was puzzled that my mother was relighting the candles again. She said that so and so and another friend have the same birthday as me, and she wants them to also blow the candles. I remember being silent and upset inside. I felt cheated. I wasn’t happy at the idea of them sharing my cake at all. I was five years old!
I can even go back to as young as three, and remember seeing my baby sister being carried by my father. She was then about a year old. But I wanted to be carried too. I remember feeling hurt that my father took her in his arms and I had to stand beside him as my mother took a picture of us. I was upset inside and felt wronged. I was actually worried that the camera will not be able to see me since I was not at the same level as the camera my mother was holding. I was down below and the camera was up high. I had this desire to yank my sister out of his arms so I can be carried instead.
I even remember at four years old seeing my brother for the first time as a baby, but didn’t know he was a part of our family. I can still recall someone telling me, as I looked at that baby lying on the bed in bundles of white linens, that he was my brother. I remember saying to her, “Take him away. He doesn’t belong here.” I didn’t believe that lady and I thought to myself, “There is just me and my sister. That baby is someone else’s. He’s not my mother’s child. It is just me and my sister.” It wasn’t until I saw my mother feeding that baby and she called me to come close to her and meet my baby brother did I acknowledge the fact that he might be really a part of us. I was only four years old and I remember really disliking that baby and thought he should be taken away.
Maybe I am different from a lot of people. I hope I am and that people in general are very loving. But in truth I feel that unless we are taught to love, love is not going to be a part of us too much. Our definition of love is love for oneself: “I am first.” That is our definition of love.
That’s why I think that love is a gift from God. Therefore, it is important that we spend time talking to Him. The more we spend time talking to Him and being in His presence the more we will come to have the true definition of love: God’s love. “God is love” the Bible tells us, so it is important to spend as much time as possible with Him because without Him we could never on our own have true love.
It is also important to keep asking God for love. Everyday when we talk to Him and commune with Him, it is important that we request and we mention to Him this need we have of love.
This need of love is not just so we can love others. I know already how our selfish thoughts are feeling. “I’m going to ask for love so I can love people? Ugh. What about me?”
Believe it or not, having love brings happiness. The more we feel the love of God inside our hearts the more we will be happy. We will have joy and peace and gladness in our hearts. Think about it. Have you ever been in the presence of God and felt His love? You know what I am talking about. When the Spirit of God comes into your heart, you can’t even wait to hug someone or kiss someone on the cheek because that love of God in you just needs to be expressed. God is love and when we have Him in our hearts we will have love.
When you’re in love, like with your spouse or your child, do you ever grudge giving love? No. You want to give love because it makes you happy to give it. It makes you happy to share that wonderful feeling inside of you. They don’t even have to do anything but accept it, because that love you feel is so powerful it has to be shared.
That’s why asking God for more love is a must. It not only will help us love one another, it will also make us happy. It will bring in the power of God in our lives and shatter all depression and darkness in our homes. It will bring healing to our soul and to our relationships. God’s love is the most powerful thing we can ever have in this life, so much so that it took Him to the cross so that we can be saved and find life everlasting with Him today. God’s love is the greatest gift we can ever have in this life. We can never, ever go wrong to ask more of it in our lives today.
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. {1 John 4:7-12}
Prayer
Father, in heaven, I thank You with all of my heart for Your great love for me and how You are ever so gracious and so merciful to me despite the fact that I am so underserving of Your love. Father, I thank You for giving Your life at the cross for my sake so that I can be set free from the bondage of sin and from the power of Satan and the principalities of this world.
I ask Lord Jesus, that You would please forgive me from all of my unrighteousness, from all my sins and iniquities, and from all of my selfish ways of loving. Often I don’t know what true love is. It is always conditional when I love. I must always be loved back or else I will not love others in return. What I know I learned growing up. I have been sorely disappointed and disillusioned about love. Only You can rescue me from my state of scorn and bitterness and the feelings of disappointment I feel about life. Please Lord Jesus, come and save me and take all these ugly thoughts of scorn, anger, fear, and the state of self-pity that I feel everyday away from me. But rather replace them with Your love, joy, peace, holiness, grace, contentment and purity that only You alone can give. Give me Your grace today Father, and most of all Your love. I pray Savior, in Your most, wonderful and precious name, Jesus. I thank You, Father. Amen.
Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay
Rp8/2017
