Sunday 25 Mar 2012

Sunday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:1
1  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.

Devotion:
I had to think this one through for quite a while before I could put pen to paper even though I had used this briefly in a lesson just yesterday. Why? Because sometimes God’s Word stirs up some emotions inside that you have to allow to come to the surface, work out and then let God explain them to you again. It is no use shutting things out just because you don’t want to hear them or see them. Of all the things that God has given us, love is the one thing that stands out more than anything else as the essential core of how He made us.

We can come up with all sorts of reasons of why people are successful and we can come up with all manner of equations that will show the path to success and the formula that we should live by; but when you leave out love, then it is all vanity. We can see some people being listed as being so successful, even touted as the richest people in the world, but without that love in their lives, the lives are as empty as a tramp living on the streets!

How can I say something like that? Well, I like to think that I have been lucky enough to experience quite a few facets of life as most people will see things and the only thing that stands out is the love that I have been fortunate enough to be able to experience along the way. Without that love, those experiences would simply be experiences and nothing more. But God has given us that very special thing called love and that is something that I would like to focus on this week – the love that He has given us.

Quite rightly we are shown here that no matter what we are able to achieve in our lives, if we are not willing to take love with us, then we fall very short of God’s will and His way in our lives. It was Christ who reminded us that we need to love others and it was His display of love that showed us just how serious He is about that love. I like the way that it is described here – that life should be as useless as a cymbal being bashed over and over again if we were to try to live it without love. But not to stop there, the author continues to remind us that no amount of religion, knowledge, wisdom, blind faith or earthly charity will ever make up for not having love. Love is the one thing that will always make me smile when all else breaks down. Love is the one thing that allows me to live for Christ and take His name and His Word wherever I go. For that, I praise His Holy Name!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are successful?

Do you take true love with you?