1 Cor 13 – for 5/6/07
May 2, 2007
Not sure if this really is the passage for this week, but it wont hurt to read it…
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
from ebible.com
May 12, 2007 at 11:50 am
It’s funny… when you listen to “the world’s” music, tone, etc.. you find that they believe “what the world needs now is love…” I used to roll my eyes at it, thinking “Love won’t solve THIS world’s problems”.
I was rather naive. It appears that “they” didn’t get this idea from anywhere strange. They got it from God’s Word (1 Cor 13 to be exact). However, I had a college minister who used to say, “The Devil doesn’t have his own version, he has perversion”. It’s true, all he wants is enough of a lie so that the truth isn’t really the truth anymore. What the world needs now IS love! It’s just not the love the song is talking about.
The world’s view of love is that we should all just love each other because we’re all human and we should be enlightened enough to deal peaceably with each other and that’ll solve all our problems. But LOVE really IS the answer. Not just our love, but God’s love. The most attractive quality of true Christians that will draw lost souls to Christ is His Love. There may be some who will be inspired by righteousness, humility, wisdom, etc… but what is supposed to set us apart and draw souls to Christ is the way we love the world. Not the things of the world or the sin of the world, but the people of the world. We need to stop judging and start loving…
May 15, 2007 at 8:35 pm
OK, so this is the third time I have tried to comment. I apologize if this shows up more than once.
I agree that it our love for our neighbor that is one of the strongest witnesses for the Gospel. With that said, I keep coming back to “what does that look like in our society today?” How do we love and not become like the world? The world does not want tracts handed to them, and more often than not they don’t want to come near our churches.
On another note that I think is important, is it possible to truly help others understand God’s love without also talking about His holiness and the fact of His righteous wrath towards us sinners? I think far too often all we feel comfortable with is talking about God’s love, yet His love is almost meaningless if separated from His holiness. How good can the “Good News” be if we don’t see how bad the situation is that we are in?
Sorry for using so many question marks. It just kind of happened that way.
May 18, 2007 at 10:09 am
Good questions Mac.
Along similar lines, can we tell others about Christ without talking to them about hell? Can we talk to others about Christ without even mentioning the “next” life at all? I would argue that it’s really worth a try.