Where is the Love - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Today's society faces a tremendous struggle. There is evil everywhere we turn, and the body of Christ is being persecuted for our faith. 

The world is trying so hard to remove Jesus from the equation. It is easier to cave in and go with the flow than it is to act according to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. 


The Lord's love is poured out for all, but the world is afraid of giving up the desires of the flesh. 

What are we doing with and through love?

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1 Corinthians 13:1-13

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² 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. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ 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. ¹² 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.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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Are we doing things for the right reasons? Paul addresses the Corinthians and their pride in their ability with words and language. He wants to ensure that our hearts are in the right place anytime we do something. Again, why are we doing what we do? Do we do things for our own edification and to satisfy the desires of our flesh? Paul said that we are blessed with spiritual gifts, but what are we doing with these gifts, and how are we utilizing them?

We can be incredible preachers, athletes, teachers, doctors, parents, or anything else, but if we don’t have love or do it through love, then it means nothing. Love is the basis of why we are here. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to take our place on that cross. Whenever we are working or doing things, we should examine our hearts to ensure that what we are doing is for the glory of God, and that we are doing it out of our love for God. While serving in ministry, are we doing it out of love? If I give someone on the street some money, is it out of love or is it because I will feel better about myself?
 
But what is love? Verses 4-7 are quoted very often, especially at weddings. But Paul is telling us the characteristics of true love. We must do everything with love, but there is a catch. If our love does not reflect these characteristics, is it truly God’s love? These verses are very convicting because it is the essence of humility and submission.

True Love is everlasting and will not fade away like everything else in this world. A good measure of spiritual maturity is not through spiritual gifts but it is through the demonstration of unconditional love. It comes down to a heart issue. We can always put on a good facade and appear to be good Christians, but if our hearts lack love, we are just fooling ourselves. We, especially myself, are not perfect and never will be. The standard is Jesus, and we will always fall short of the glory of God. But we have God’s love and the Holy Spirit working on our hearts daily.

I encourage all of us to examine our hearts to ensure that each and everything thing we do and say comes from a heart of love. There will be days of struggle, but we have the grace and love of God as an example. Be humble and submit with love. When we change the state of our hearts, then we can pour out love toward others. Because the world we live in today is lacking more and more love by the day.