“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging 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, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJV)
If what we do is not based in love, it is based in nothing. The Apostle Paul had previously written to the Corinthian Church about spiritual gifts. The Body of Christ is composed of many members unified as one, and each member is given a gift from God to edify the body. We know that anything God gives is a precious gift to be cherished. Spiritual gifts are to be used for God’s glory and for the building up of His people. Yet, the reason behind using our gifts is even more important than the gift itself.
In the last verse of 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul encourages us to earnestly desire the best of these spiritual gifts. We should seek the Lord and ask him to reveal the gift(s) he has placed within us. We should ask him to help us share that gift with his people. But the Apostle Paul also wrote, “And yet I show you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31).
Although these gifts are divine, Paul tells us that there is something better than them. There is something that exceeds these gifts, something that surpasses them, and even when these gifts fail—that something will never cease. Paul wrote, “Love never fails …”
When all else fails, when heaven and earth passes away, love will remain. For God is love per 1 John 4:16. It states, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
From this verse, we can conclude that if we are not abiding in love, then we are not abiding in God. Therefore, if we have and share spiritual gifts void of love, then we are using God’s gifts void of him. Using our gifts without love is to use our gifts without God. And yet, it happens quite often.
In Matthew 7, Jesus teaches that everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast our demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ and then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you’”. (Matthew 7:21-23).
Note that these confessed believers used spiritual gifts. They prophesied… which was a spiritual gift. They healed by casting out demons, another spiritual gift, and they did many wonders in the name of the Lord. But Jesus said he didn’t know them. Yet if they had used their gifts while abiding in love, Christ would have known them.
In 1 John 4, it is written that if we abide in love, we abide in God. Christ cannot say he doesn’t know us if we are abiding in love. Christ will know if we are of God because he and his father are one (John 10:30). Jesus knows and will know where love resides—he will know if God truly lives within us.
And so, this is why love is the more excellent way. Using God’s spiritual gifts without love, without Him, amounts to nothing. Granted, souls can be edified and possibly even saved evn when our gifts are shared void of love. If wisdom, knowledge, or any other gift is shared and someone benefits from it, then to God be the glory. The gospel itself can be given from a loveless place. Philippians 1:15-17 states that some preached Christ from envy, strife, and selfish ambition, while others did it out of love.
Therefore, while some people may benefit from spiritual gifts shared from a loveless place, it will ultimately not benefit the loveless giver in any capacity. So, may we desire spiritual gifts, but above all, let us desire and obtain the more excellent way, which is love.
May we operate as love does according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. May the Lord strengthen us to be patient and kind, void of envy and jealousy. May God help us to not behave rudely or to be self-seeking. May He help us not to rejoice in evil or sin but rather rejoice in the truth, which is Jesus and His holy word. May we bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.
By the power of God that resides in every believer, may we seek and hold fast to love. May we seek and abide in God. Let us abide also in faith and hope as Paul encourages in the last verse of 1 Corinthians 13. But may we above all, abide in the thing that surpasses them all. May we abide in love, the more excellent way.
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